Taiwan's average earnings up in April

TAIPEI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The average regular earnings of all employees in Taiwan was 40,729 new Taiwan dollars (about 1,366 U.S. dollars) in April, up 2.3 percent from a year ago, the island's statistics authority said Tuesday.

With irregular earnings such as bonuses and overtime payments counted, average total earnings came to 45,767 new Taiwan dollars, up 3.2 percent from the same month last year.

In the first four months, real regular earnings and real total earnings increased 0.9 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, after adjusting for the rise in the consumer price.

Taiwan had 7.63 million payroll employees by the end of April.