A remark by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday that the government hopes to continue raising the nation’s monthly minimum wage every year drew mixed reactions from labor unions and trade groups yesterday, from expectations about a steeper increase next year to concerns over adverse effects on businesses already affected by COVID-19 restrictions. Taiwan Labour Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam (孫友聯) said he welcomed Tsai’s announcement and expected that a wage hike next year would be larger than the increase this year, the state-run Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Son as saying. This year, the monthly minimum wage was raised by 5.21 percent