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Taiwan's gender pay gap narrowed slightly in 2019
The Ministry of Labor set this year's Equal Pay Day on 21 February, two days earlier than last year, based on estimates that women needed to work that far into the year to earn the same amount that men did last year.
The Equal Pay Day is derived from the estimate that women in Taiwan had to work 52 more days on average than men to earn the same income because their salaries were 14.2% lower on average than those of male workers in 2019.
The Equal Pay Day for 2018 and 2019 were both set on 23 February, meaning women in Taiwan had to work 54 more days than men to make the same annual income because their salaries were 14.6% lower on average than those of their male counterparts.
According to the labor ministry, the average hourly salary for female employees in 2019 was NT$292, compared with NT$340 for males.
But over the past decade, the average hourly wage gap in the country has been reduced from 17.9% in 2009 to 14.2% in 2019, translating to a fall from 66 to 52 extra work days for women to achieve the same pay level as men.
