Headline: Micron line workers' annual pay could reach NT$2 million! Netizens envious: "Join Micron, let your life shine"
Image caption: Micron Taiwan recently signed a labor agreement with the Taichung union. (File photo)
Micron has reached a consensus with its Taichung union. According to an earlier explanation from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, over 80% of employees will receive raises of nearly 2.7 times, with production-line workers going from NT$630,000 to over NT$2 million. Because the adjusted annual salaries are so generous, it has sparked heated discussion among netizens, who exclaimed "Join Micron, let your life shine," while one person said, "One year's pay working on the production line is worth at least three years of mine."
The Ministry of Economic Affairs explained that Micron's published plan shows three major outcomes: First, over 80% of staff get raises of nearly 2.7 times — production-line workers rise from NT$630,000 to over NT$2 million; junior engineers from NT$1.45 million to NT$4 million; and mid-to-senior engineers from over NT$2 million to NT$6 million. Second, the union also secured an increase in the employer's labor pension contribution to 10%, better than the industry norm. Third, for frontline production-line shift workers, the day-shift allowance will triple, from NT$1,500 to NT$4,500.
The raise plan has made many netizens envious. Comments on social media included: "Join Micron, let your life shine," "Get a master's in EE/CS from NTU, Tsing Hua, or Chiao Tung and join Micron — you'll be making NT$3 million+ by your second year," and one person exclaimed, "The world is turning into something I don't recognize. Cars will fly, Micron line workers could make NT$2 million a year next year — what's impossible now?"
Others lamented: "Sorry, turns out I'm the one dragging down Taiwan's average salary," and "One year's pay on the production line is worth at least three years of mine." Someone else said: "Doctors' incomes are about to lose to Micron line workers. There's no entry barrier this time — will doctors switch careers en masse?"
If there’s really little barrier to entry to a job and a high pay, you have very little leverage as the job holder, if your bosses don’t like you there’s a hoard to replace you. It’s not a position I would envy.
Taiwan is a very wealthy country with very high housing prices. $2m NTD is not a "bad" wage for a factory worker but it isn't anywhere near "high pay", especially when you see the nature of the work and demands.
A combination of economic conditions and work pressures, in part, have led Taiwan to have the lowest fertility rate in the world. There is a cultural component as well, I've cited the most relevant parts from the below citation, the whole piece is worth a read on the topic imho.
- Earlier this month, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Taiwan’s total fertility rate last year dropped from 0.885 to 0.695, marking the fastest decline in recorded history. For a population to stay roughly the same size, the fertility rate, which measures the average number of children each woman is expected to have over her lifetime, must be around 2.1. The National Development Council projects that by 2070, Taiwan’s population will decline 35% to 15 million. At this point, more than half of the people in Taiwan will be over the age of 65.
- Despite the 600 billion New Taiwan dollars (roughly $19 billion) that the government has poured into fixing the problem over the past eight or so years, Taiwan’s population has continued to decline.
- Chen cited housing prices as a main deterrent to having children, which outstrip what people can generally afford. President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) promised during his campaign to build 130,000 new social housing units, but the target has since dropped to 40,000 to 60,000 units, with Lai’s government shifting its focus to rental subsidies. Chen thinks subsidies are a subpar solution, as renters are still subject to the whims of the landlord. “I don’t think it’s very practical for a young couple or a young family. There’s no long term stability,” said Chen.
- Work pressure is another deterrent to having children in Taiwan, where average working hours are the second longest in Asia and the fifth longest in the world. Chen cited a possible solution in a recent initiative by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), which has the government subsidizing flexible working hours for parents with children younger than 12.
On the other hand, I miss being able to afford computers, consoles and other electronic devices that have RAM and/or other forms of storage in them.
On the third hand, I'm not sure the second thing is likely to ever be a thing again in my lifetime unless there is a rather severe economic crash preceding it, which is, you know, also not great.
kids have more fun with a SNES than they do with a PS5. office runs fine on 2010 era thinkpads. I get by with the cheapest possible nokia. a perceived need for modern tech conveniences is artificially engineered to program consumption behaviour into the uneducated or unwilling. I presume you fall into the latter camp and have your reasons, I don't believe such a decision could accurately be extrapolated to society at large.
Haha, I'm surprised no one brought this up: In Taiwan, there are Micron Taichung and Micron Taoyuan. In the past days, It is a hot topic that the executives of Micron Taichung betrayed the 10 thounsand members and sneakily signed the agreement, including a term to forbid any more strike in the next 3 years.
Translated to English by Fable 5.1:
Headline: Micron line workers' annual pay could reach NT$2 million! Netizens envious: "Join Micron, let your life shine"
Image caption: Micron Taiwan recently signed a labor agreement with the Taichung union. (File photo)
Micron has reached a consensus with its Taichung union. According to an earlier explanation from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, over 80% of employees will receive raises of nearly 2.7 times, with production-line workers going from NT$630,000 to over NT$2 million. Because the adjusted annual salaries are so generous, it has sparked heated discussion among netizens, who exclaimed "Join Micron, let your life shine," while one person said, "One year's pay working on the production line is worth at least three years of mine."
The Ministry of Economic Affairs explained that Micron's published plan shows three major outcomes: First, over 80% of staff get raises of nearly 2.7 times — production-line workers rise from NT$630,000 to over NT$2 million; junior engineers from NT$1.45 million to NT$4 million; and mid-to-senior engineers from over NT$2 million to NT$6 million. Second, the union also secured an increase in the employer's labor pension contribution to 10%, better than the industry norm. Third, for frontline production-line shift workers, the day-shift allowance will triple, from NT$1,500 to NT$4,500.
The raise plan has made many netizens envious. Comments on social media included: "Join Micron, let your life shine," "Get a master's in EE/CS from NTU, Tsing Hua, or Chiao Tung and join Micron — you'll be making NT$3 million+ by your second year," and one person exclaimed, "The world is turning into something I don't recognize. Cars will fly, Micron line workers could make NT$2 million a year next year — what's impossible now?"
Others lamented: "Sorry, turns out I'm the one dragging down Taiwan's average salary," and "One year's pay on the production line is worth at least three years of mine." Someone else said: "Doctors' incomes are about to lose to Micron line workers. There's no entry barrier this time — will doctors switch careers en masse?"
Taiwan Is Running Out of Children - https://dominotheory.com/taiwan-is-running-out-of-children/ - April 27th, 2026
- Earlier this month, the Ministry of the Interior announced that Taiwan’s total fertility rate last year dropped from 0.885 to 0.695, marking the fastest decline in recorded history. For a population to stay roughly the same size, the fertility rate, which measures the average number of children each woman is expected to have over her lifetime, must be around 2.1. The National Development Council projects that by 2070, Taiwan’s population will decline 35% to 15 million. At this point, more than half of the people in Taiwan will be over the age of 65.
- Despite the 600 billion New Taiwan dollars (roughly $19 billion) that the government has poured into fixing the problem over the past eight or so years, Taiwan’s population has continued to decline.
- Chen cited housing prices as a main deterrent to having children, which outstrip what people can generally afford. President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) promised during his campaign to build 130,000 new social housing units, but the target has since dropped to 40,000 to 60,000 units, with Lai’s government shifting its focus to rental subsidies. Chen thinks subsidies are a subpar solution, as renters are still subject to the whims of the landlord. “I don’t think it’s very practical for a young couple or a young family. There’s no long term stability,” said Chen.
- Work pressure is another deterrent to having children in Taiwan, where average working hours are the second longest in Asia and the fifth longest in the world. Chen cited a possible solution in a recent initiative by Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), which has the government subsidizing flexible working hours for parents with children younger than 12.
https://ourworldindata.org/featured-viz/population-simulatio...
On the other hand, I miss being able to afford computers, consoles and other electronic devices that have RAM and/or other forms of storage in them.
On the third hand, I'm not sure the second thing is likely to ever be a thing again in my lifetime unless there is a rather severe economic crash preceding it, which is, you know, also not great.
You may use your translation tools to read the Threads post: https://www.threads.com/share/_pvBLXXpx/
I'm not a Micron employee nor in chip industry.