In support of President Ma Ying-jeou's proposal of raising the pay for civil servants, Premier Wu Den-yih said he hopes that this move will encourage other private businesses to do the same for their employees. But according to the latest survey, around 70 percent of companies say they have no intent to up the wages this year.

Could the pay raise for civil servants boost private companies' willingness to increase salary?

The government has mentioned the possibility in several occasions.

But simply from the perspective of the reviving economy, around 70% of companies do not have a plan to adjust the salary.

The remaining 30% companies might increase the salary by 4%.

Even if civil servants are to receive a pay raise, 90% of companies say that they won't follow suit.

10% of the companies may have a pay raise of 1%.

Therefore, it shows that the ripple effect of civil servants' pay raise is limited.

For companies that plan to give employees a pay raise, they believe the adjustment will base on individual performance, not one standard for all.

In other words, a pay raise of 1% would not be able to stimulate local consumption.

Some scholars believe the government should consider the policy more carefully.

They also point out that the economy is reviving as statistics and domestic demand show.

But from the perspective of European, the U.S. and Taiwan, the economic revival is rather slow.

Therefore, it is more possible to see employees' pay increase when companies are making bigger profits.