China's social authorities say that Shanghai's latest monthly minimum wage is the highest in the country at 2,190 yuan (about $317), and Beijing's hourly minimum wage standard is the highest at 21 yuan (about 3 dollars).

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released the information on Tuesday, adding that Shenzhen has the second highest monthly rate at 2,030 yuan, making Shanghai and Shenzhen the only cities to exceed 2,000 yuan per month.

The next three provinces or cities are Tianjin city, Guangdong province and Beijing city.

For hourly pay, the top cities after Beijing are Tianjin (19.5 yuan) and Shanghai (19 yuan).

In China, there are two different legal methods to pay salaries, monthly and the hourly. Monthly pay is used for full-time staff and hourly is for part-time employees. Different provinces are allowed to have different salary standards.

In 2016, there were only nine cities or provinces that increased minimum wage standards. Last year, there were 20 that increased standards.

It is required that every province must adjust the minimum-wage standard every two years. Qinhai province is using the standard started from May 1, 2014.

Su Hainan, vice chairman of the China Association for Labour Studies, said that China's economy has entered a new normal with labor cost rising rapidly. The expert says that to balance enterprise with incomes, reasonable increases of the minimum wage standard are necessary.

n 2015, Shenzhen's monthly minimum wage standard was the highest (2030 yuan) and the hourly standard in Beijing was the highest (18.7 yuan).