Two labor numbers landed in the same week, and both hit pay packets in 2027.
The ordinary labor-insurance premium rate, which has climbed on a statutory schedule since 2009, reaches its legal cap of 13 percent next year — 12 percent for labor insurance plus 1 percent employment insurance. The Bureau of Labor Insurance has been raising the ordinary rate by half a point every two years since it hit 10 percent. The extra half point is supposed to bring in about NT$23 billion. It will not close the gap. Draft 2027 figures still show premiums of about NT$568.7 billion against benefits of NT$679.9 billion, a shortfall above NT$111 billion and the eleventh straight year the scheme pays out more than it takes in.
Split the bill the usual way if you have a regular employer: 70 percent the company, 20 percent the worker, 10 percent the government. Occupational-union members still pay 60 percent themselves. Hidden liabilities in the labor fund were already past NT$13.8 trillion at midyear.
Separately, the minimum-wage council raised the monthly floor from NT$29,500 to NT$30,900, a 4.745 percent increase, and the hourly rate from NT$196 to NT$205, effective January 1 if the Cabinet signs off. Because National Health Insurance contribution grades move with the basic wage, the health ministry estimates about 7.89 million people will see a change. The average extra NHI charge is about NT$26 a month; most employees pay closer to NT$21. A smaller group, about 190,000 people, will pay a little less when two low grades merge.
For a shop that already sits on the minimum, the wage rise is the larger cash cost. For a mid-salary office, the insurance-rate bump is the one that shows up as a line on the January slip. Neither number fixes the fund’s arithmetic. They do set what comes out of January pay.