每日英語跟讀 Ep.K243: When is the best time to ask for a raise?
如果你原先希望可以在今年年底前加薪，那你可能要再等一會兒了。
If you are hoping for a pay raise before the end of the year, you should brace yourselves for some bad news.
根據一家網路銀行最新調查，儘管台灣近年經濟狀況表現佳，大多數的台灣上班族收入卻沒有增加。
Most Taiwan workers haven’t seen their income increase in recent years despite Taiwan’s strong economic performance, according to a new survey by an online job bank.
更令人擔心的是，分析師預計公司會等到業務恢復到疫情前水準後才會給員工應有的加薪。
Even more worrisome, analysts expect companies to wait until after business returns to pre-pandemic levels before giving staff the financial push they deserve.
就業網站1111週二表示，百貨公司、超市和大賣場的零售商員工報告顯示他們的工資凍結時間最長，平均為四年三個月之久。
Retail workers in department stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets, for instance, reported the lengthiest salary freeze at four years and three months on average, employment website 1111 reported on Tuesday.
同時，服務業 (大部分為食物和飲料攤販)平均也等了三年八個月才會看到月收入的增加。
Workers in the service sector — mostly food and beverage vendors — also waited for an average of three years and eight months before seeing a hike in their monthly income.
台灣在5月中旬至8月中旬，因疫情不斷升溫而開始實施三級警戒，對當地零售業的打擊更是大。許多企業別無選擇只能解雇員工並削減營運成本以求生存。
The implementation of the Level 3 epidemic warning after a case surge from mid-May to mid-August hit the local and retail sectors even harder. Many business owners had no choice but to furlough employees and cut operating costs in a bid to survive.
另一方面，從事金融業的人「未加薪」的時期明顯較短，為兩年三個月；這表明儘管疫情的出現，金融業仍持續蓬勃發展。
Workers in the pan-finance sector, on the other hand, reported the shortest period without a raise at two years and three months, indicating that financial services continued to boom despite the pandemic.
然而1111發言人黃若薇表示，鑒於不樂觀的經濟前景，雇主不太可能在明年增加工資。原因很簡單，公司會希望先了解他們的業務是否能恢復到疫情前的水平。
The problem is that employers are unlikely to increase pays next year given the uncertain economic outlook. The reason is simple, companies want to know if their business will return to pre-pandemic levels first, according to 1111 spokesperson Vivi Huang (黃若薇).
台灣的鄰國日本、新加坡和香港皆因本土疫情案例增加經濟受到嚴重影響，相較起來，台灣經濟成長勝出鄰國3%。
Taiwan’s economy grew last year 3% higher than that of its neighboring countries Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, all of which fell sharply amid spikes in local infections.
既使在全球經濟蕭條的情況下，因為各地開始在家上班和上課，相關電子產品需求也隨之飆升，台灣的出口量也創下了輝煌紀錄。
Even in a weak global economy, Taiwan has seen record exports thanks to soaring global demand for the technology components and products needed to work and study at home.
在此背景嚇，勞動部上週表示，從2022年1月1日起，台灣基本月薪和時薪將增加5.21%，成連續六年調升基本薪資。
Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Labor (MOL, 勞動部) said last week that Taiwan’s minimum monthly and hourly wage will increase by 5.21 percent from Jan. 1, 2022 — the sixth consecutive year it has been increased.
5.21%的增長將使基本薪資每月新台幣2.4萬提高到新台幣2.525萬元，而時薪也從新台幣160元提高到168元。這對於在台灣從事一些困難工作的數百萬人來說是好消息。
The 5.21 percent increase will raise the minimum monthly wage from NT$24,000 (US$857) at present to NT$25,250 and the minimum hourly wage from NT$160 to NT$168. This is great news for millions of people who survive by doing some of the most difficult jobs in Taiwan.
明年調薪後，教育程度較低的求職者收入將與目前大學畢業生月收入僅為28,000到32,000元相近。
Regretfully, the move is likely to lower the gap between workers with little or no qualification and young college graduates who earn merely NT$28,000 to NT$32,000 per month. Source article: https://chinapost.nownews.com/20211017-2830275