China considers pay caps in monopoly industries

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BIZCHINA / Center

China considers pay caps in monopoly industries

By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-18 17:21

The Chinese government is considering a new measure to impose caps on
average pay levels in monopoly industries to prevent employees in those
sectors from earning too much, an official said yesterday, the Shanghai
Securities News reported today.

Giving non-monopoly sector workers regular and steady pay rises and
curbing excessive pay in monopoly industries are two ways to bridge
income gap between monopoly and non-monopoly industries, said Qiu
Xiaoping, from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Official statistics have shown that employees of some profitable monopoly
enterprises earn much more than the national average.

Average wages amongst Chinese workers grew by 12 percent a year from 2002
to 2006, underlining the cost pressures facing manufacturers, according
to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Average annual wages reached 21,001 yuan (US$2,765) in 2006, up from
12,422 yuan in 2002, the NBS said.

In 2005, workers in the highest-paid industries earned 4.88 times those
in the lowest-paid industries, who made only 2.63 times more in 2000,
according to the statistics.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

20071123 Extracted from http://www.hellomandarin.net