(Taipei Times)

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday said it plans by June next year to disclose the names of locally listed companies that pay their employees less than average wages in an effort to combat low-paying jobs.

The commission’s move came after the Executive Yuan last week unveiled a plan to raise the minimum wage and increase the income of low-paid workers.

Companies that do not increase their employees’ salaries to match the growth in their net profits in the prior year would be put on the list as well, China Television Co (中視) quoted FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) as saying.

“Based on the commission’s plan, we are to disclose the names of companies that pay employees less than the industry average by June next year,” Koo said during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

Average wages would vary by industry, he said.

The list would also include companies that allocate less than NT$500,000 per year for wages, he added.

Local workers are paid less than expected, as enterprises have distributed fewer profits to workers over the past few years, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗), a former FSC chairman, said at the legislative session.

KEY INDICATOR

Outlays for employee salaries and benefits accounted for 43.8 percent of the nation’s GDP in 2016, down from 50.9 percent in 1991, Tseng said, citing Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data.

Koo said the outlay for workers’ wages and benefits would be considered a key indicator when reviewing a company’s corporate governance.

The commission next month plans to release a list of half the nation’s listed companies that offer the highest salaries, he said.

About 900 companies have planned payroll increases, of which 535 plan to increase salaries by more than 3 percent year-on-year, Koo said, citing a commission survey.