Taiwan has beaten South Korea at baseball. It has surpassed its neighbor in GDP per capita. But on one stubborn scoreboard — what the government pays its own civil servants — Taiwan is still losing, and a public-sector advocacy group says the gap is widening fast enough to threaten the quality of governance itself.
The Taiwan Civil Service Reform Force (台灣公務革新力量), an organization focused on public-sector employment conditions, issued a stark warning on May 13 after fresh government wage data renewed debate about Taiwan's competitiveness as an employer. Unless the government meaningfully raises pay for entry-level and mid-ranking career officials, the group said, it will find itself unable to attract the young professionals it needs.
Taiwan's March Wage Numbers: Solid Growth, But a Telling Median
The immediate trigger wasdata released May 11 by Taiwan's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (主計總處). March figures showed steady year-on-year growth across all categories — but the median regular salary of NT$39,220 (approximately US$1,280) served as a reminder of how far typical paychecks sit below the headline averages that tend to dominate news coverage.
| Category | Regular Monthly Pay | Total Compensation (incl. bonuses) |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time domestic employees (industrial & services) | NT$51,591 (approx. US$1,680) | NT$61,003 (approx. US$1,990) |
| All employees (incl. part-time & foreign nationals) | NT$48,768 (approx. US$1,590) | NT$57,509 (approx. US$1,875) |
| Median regular salary | NT$39,220 (approx. US$1,280) | — |
Source: Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, May 11, 2026
How Taiwan and South Korea Stack Up — Once the Statistics Are Fairly Compared
The salary debate has been complicated by eye-catching but misleading figures. Some observers have pointed to South Korean employees earning an average of roughly NT$92,000 (approximately US$3,000) per month. The Reform Force cautioned that this reflects a different statistical methodology and a different workforce sample. Adjusted to a comparable all-employee basis, South Korean monthly wages fall between NT$68,000 (approximately US$2,215) and NT$70,000 (approximately US$2,280) — narrowing the gap with Taiwan's NT$60,000 (approximately US$1,955) average considerably, but not closing it.
The comparison becomes far more pointed when focused specifically on career civil servants. Taiwan's examination system sets entry pay across three tiers; South Korea's lowest-rung Grade 9 officer, once salary and allowances are combined, already earns more than Taiwan's most competitive starting salary.
| Civil Service Tier | Monthly Starting Pay (NT$) | Approx. US$ |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan — Junior Exam | NT$34,900 | approx. US$1,140 |
| Taiwan — Ordinary Exam | NT$43,000 | approx. US$1,400 |
| Taiwan — Senior Exam 高 | NT$55,200 | approx. US$1,800 |
| South Korea — Grade 9 Entry (lowest rung) | NT$60,000 equiv. | approx. US$1,955 |
Sources: Taiwan Examination Yuan (2025 figures); South Korea Ministry of Personnel Management (2026 figures, inclusive of salary and allowances)
In other words, South Korea's most junior government employee already earns close to or more than Taiwan's senior-exam entrants take home, and substantially more than those entering through the junior and ordinary tracks.
Examination Rolls Are Shrinking — and Seoul Has Noticed the Same Problem
The salary gap is showing up in behavior. Data from Taiwan's Examination Yuan cited by the Reform Force reveals a measurable decline in candidates sitting for the ordinary-level and senior-level civil service examinations — down 46.5% and 32.1% respectively over roughly a decade. Officials have attributed the trend in part to rising compensation in Taiwan's technology and financial sectors, which have made government careers comparatively less attractive to ambitious graduates.
South Korea has faced similar pressures and responded with explicit policy action. Seoul raised overall civil servant compensation by 3.5% in 2026, with additional targeted increases for Grade 7 through Grade 9 officers — those early in their careers. A Grade 9, Step 1 entrant will receive annual total compensation of approximately 34.28 million won (approximately US$25,000) in 2026, averaging around 2.86 million won (approximately US$2,090) per month, with plans to raise that figure further to roughly 3 million won (approximately US$2,190) monthly by 2027.
A Warning Beyond the Numbers
The Reform Forceacknowledged that Taiwan's high-technology sector has generated impressive headline growth. The concern, the group said, is that workers in services, small and medium enterprises, and the lower tiers of the public sector have not shared proportionately in those gains — and that the government has been slower than its regional peers to recognize the consequences.
"A government that cannot attract capable people," the group warned, "will ultimately force the public to bear the cost of administrative dysfunction."
The Reform Force stopped short of prescribing specific policy remedies, but its implicit argument was clear: if South Korea — facing the same demographic and labor-market pressures — has made junior civil servant pay a stated political priority, Taiwan can no longer treat the issue as a second-order concern. （Related： Taiwan Beats South Korea on GDP—But Loses on Wages ｜ Latest ）
