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This study focuses on the number of employees, total working hours, and salaries in the life insurance industry in Taiwan. The data from Earnings Exploration & Information Sysetem of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics' Executive Yuan, from January 1994 to December 2021, along with business cycles and stock market peaks and troughs, were analyzed. The following four conclusions were drawn: First, the number of employees lags behind both the peak and trough of the business cycle, making them lagging indicators for the life insurance industry. On the other hand, total working hours are leading indicators during both the peak and trough of the business cycle. Both the number of employees and total working hours can serve as important indicators for advance prediction. Second, total salaries, regular salaries, and overtime pay lag behind during peaks and lead during troughs. This indicates a longer expansion period and a shorter recession period, making them market growth indicators highly influenced by business conditions. Third, non-regular salaries lead during peak periods and lag during troughs. This suggests a shorter period of prosperity and a longer period of recession, making them leading indicators of the economy. They belong to projects that follow the economy when it's good and suffer when it's bad. Fourth, in terms of percentage differences, the volatility of the number of employees, total working hours, and salaries is low during economic peaks or troughs. However, non-regular salaries have the highest volatility among salaries, with a larger fluctuation gap during economic downturns than during peaks. Additionally, this study also analyzed the stock market peaks and troughs as reference points, and the results were generally consistent with the above conclusions. The comparison of the average statistical analysis of business cycles and stock market peaks and troughs also aligned with the previous findings, demonstrating the robustness of the research results.
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