Taiwan Rep / Notes

Taiwan's minimum wage rises 4.7% in 2027. How much should that add to the price of a bolt?

On January 1, 2027 Taiwan's monthly minimum wage goes from NT$29,500 to NT$30,900. Migrant workers in metal plants are paid close to it. But in the last census, wages were about a tenth of what Taiwan's screw, nut and rivet industry produced, so even if every wage in the industry rose 4.7%, the extra pay would come to about half a percent of its output. Here's the arithmetic and its limits.

Updated October 13, 2026. Wage decision from the Ministry of Labor and the Executive Yuan; payroll and production figures from the 2021 Industry and Service Census, read that day.

Taiwan sets the next year's minimum wage each autumn, and a 2027 price letter from a Taiwan supplier may well cite it. "Labor costs are rising" is true, and the decision is public. What such a letter may not say is how much of a bolt's price is labor in the first place. This note covers what was decided, who it reaches in a fastener plant, what the census says about wages as a share of the industry's output, and how to read a price request that cites it.

What was decided

Under the Minimum Wage Act, a council of government, labor, employer and academic members meets in the third quarter each year, the Executive Yuan approves its decision, and the new rate takes effect on January 1 of the next year unless another date is approved (Articles 7, 10, 13 and 14). For 2027:

The Ministry of Labor estimates that 2.6116 million workers will benefit, 2.1972 million of them Taiwanese. By subtraction, about 414,400 are foreign workers. Since 2016 the monthly minimum has risen from NT$20,008 to NT$30,900, or 54.4%.

The Act applies to every worker covered by the Labor Standards Act (Article 3), which includes factory workers, Taiwanese and migrant alike. Paying less is fined NT$20,000 to NT$1 million, which can be raised to as much as NT$1.5 million depending on the employer's size, the number of workers affected or the circumstances; the employer's name is published, and it is fined again each time it fails to fix the problem by the deadline (Article 17).

Who it reaches in a fastener plant

Not everyone at a bolt maker earns the minimum, but one large group earns close to it. As our migrant workers note sets out, 113,700 migrant workers held valid permits in Taiwan's fabricated metal products industry, a much wider industry than fasteners, at the end of August 2026. The Ministry of Labor's 2025 survey put their average regular monthly wage in June 2025 at NT$29,586, about 3.5% above that year's minimum of NT$28,590. Regular wages include fixed allowances, so that average isn't the same as a base wage, and it doesn't show how many workers sit at the minimum. What's certain is that any worker paid below NT$30,900 a month from January has to be raised to it, and our inference is that many migrant workers' pay will move with the new minimum.

Some costs scale with wages. Overtime pay is calculated from the wage rate. For workers covered by the Labor Pension Act, mainly Taiwanese staff, the employer contributes at least 6% of monthly wages, based on the ministry's contribution brackets (Article 14). Employers also pay labor and health insurance premiums.

What the census says about wages and output

The size of the effect depends on how much of a supplier's costs are wages. Taiwan's Industry and Service Census, run every five years by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, reports payroll and production value for each detailed industry. On the census form, payroll means base pay, overtime, allowances, bonuses and employee profit-sharing paid during the year, for Taiwanese and foreign employees alike, and excludes the employer's labor and health insurance premiums, welfare and pension contributions. The latest census covers 2021:

The screw, nut and rivet industry had 5,994 establishments at the end of 2021, with 63,815 people: 61,045 employees and 2,770 owners and family members without a fixed wage. Its payroll for the year came to a tenth of what it produced. The rest of production value covers materials such as steel, energy, outside services, depreciation, other costs and profit; the census tables we used don't break it down.

Now the arithmetic. If every wage in the industry rose by the full 4.745%, with production unchanged, payroll would add about 0.48% of the industry's 2021 production value, taking the payroll share from 10.0% to about 10.5%. Add employer insurance and pension contributions on the extra pay and the figure rises a little. That's a scenario for scale, not a ceiling: some raises above the minimum may be larger, and some workers above it may get none.

A hypothetical shows how that reads on a quote. Take a bolt sold at US$3.00 a kilogram by a plant whose wage share matches the census average, and assume the whole extra wage cost is passed on at the same exchange rate and output. 0.48% of US$3.00 is about 1.4 cents a kilogram. If the same supplier asks for 3% and cites the minimum wage, it's reasonable to ask what else the request covers.

What the census can't tell you

The ratio is a starting point, not a measurement of your supplier. Three limits matter:

• It's from 2021. Wages, steel and energy prices have all moved since, so the share today may differ. The next census, for 2026, isn't published yet.
• It's an industry total. The ratio is weighted by production value, so large plants count for more. The census counts 5,994 establishments, most of them very small, alongside a few hundred larger plants, as our census note shows. A plant doing secondary operations by hand may have a higher wage share than an automated cold-heading line.
• Outside processing is split. Some contract processors are counted inside the screw, nut and rivet industry, and their wages are already in the total above. Others, such as heat treaters and platers, are separate industries, and their wages reach a fastener maker as purchased services. Those processors face the same minimum wage.

So the honest answer to "how much should the minimum wage add" is: on the census average, if every wage in the industry rose by the same 4.7%, the extra pay would be about half a percent of output, plus contributions, plus whatever processors pass on. A supplier with a very different cost structure can show you why its number is higher.

How to read a 2027 price letter

A letter that cites rising labor costs is reasonable. The minimum wage did rise, and workers paid near it will get raises. What to ask is how the number was built:

• What share of the price is the plant's own wages, and what share is outside processing?
• Is the increase for wages only, or does it also cover steel, energy or the exchange rate? Our exchange rate note compares currency and export price movements and explains what that data can't show about a supplier's price request.
• Does it apply to orders already placed, or only to new orders from January?

Back to the 2027 price letter. The 4.7% headline is real, but it applies to wages, and wages were a tenth of the industry's output in the census. On those numbers, a 4.7% rise across the industry's payroll would equal about half a percent of output. A request well beyond that should come with its other reasons.

Census figures are for establishments in screw, nut and rivet manufacturing (industry code 2591): people are counted at the end of 2021, payroll and production value over the year. All ratios are calculated from the unrounded census values. This is a practical guide for buyers, not labor or legal advice.

Sources

• Minimum Wage Council decision for 2027 (最低工資連11漲), Ministry of Labor press release, September 24, 2026
• Premier: minimum wage rises for the 11th year (卓揆：最低工資連11年調漲), Executive Yuan, October 1, 2026
• Minimum Wage Act (最低工資法), Articles 3, 7, 10, 13, 14 and 17
• Labor Pension Act (勞工退休金條例), Articles 7 and 14
• 2021 Industry and Service Census: manufacturing establishments by detailed industry (製造業場所單位經營概況－按細行業別分) and persons engaged and payroll by detailed industry, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, via data.gov.tw
• 2021 Industry and Service Census questionnaire (110年工業及服務業普查表), definition of payroll, as published by Changhua County
• Migrant worker counts and 2025 wage survey, Ministry of Labor, as cited in our migrant workers note