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Is it Possible to Decouple Foreign Workers’ Wages from the Minimum Wage in Taiwan?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Jen-Te Hwang
Affiliation:
Department of Banking and Finance, Kainan University, Taiwan
Chieh-Hsuan Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Chien-Ping Chung
Affiliation:
Department of International Business, Shih Chien University, Taiwan

Abstract

The impact of minimum wage legislation has been widely discussed and is a major concern among labour economists. This article investigates, from economic, legal, international political, trade, and social perspectives, the possibility of decoupling foreign workers’ wages from the minimum wage in Taiwan. The results show that foreign workers’ wages cannot possibly be decoupled from the minimum wage, and foreign workers should not be treated as a separate group of workers in Taiwan’s minimum wage policy.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011

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