Wage Trap: How Taiwan's Ultra-Growth Bypassed its Workers

Throughout the 80s and 90s, Taiwan's economy charted a course through enormous growth in both raw GDP numbers and standard of living. As an agrarian society transformed into an industrialized powerhouse, wages hit double digit growth year-on-year, suddenly putting previously unimaginable luxuries in the reach of the average worker. Then, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, Taiwan's wages hit a wall. In the nearly three decades since then, wage growth has fallen significantly behind inflation, even as business booms and asset prices have spiked. The consequences are far-reaching: large sections of the graduate population are stuck living at home and paycheck-to-paycheck, with home ownership a dim possibility. This episode looks at the consequences of thirty years of wage stagnation, and what can be done to resolve it.