14.8 per cent salary rise fuelled by lack of workers
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-05-27 05:36
Wage growth in foreign companies was between 16 and 17 per cent in 2005, the
second highest wage increase in China.
But Liu warned that other workers, especially migrant workers in the private
sector, are still poorly paid.
He cited documents from his institute that showed in the manufacturing
sector, wage increases lagged behind GDP growth by 5 percentage points every
year between 1998 and 2003.
Some factories have not given a pay raise to their workers for four to five
years.
In contrast, employees of State-owned enterprises, government organizations
and publicly-funded institutions have seen continual income increases.
The latest statistics from National Bureau of Statistics indicate the average
income for people working in the State sector rose by 16 per cent year on year
for the first quarter of this year.
At the same time, foreign companies based in China are feeling the pinch.
"We foreign companies have been increasingly losing our advantage as our
Chinese competitors can now compete with us by paying higher wages," said James
Jao, chief executive officer of J.A.O. Design International Architects &
Planners Ltd.
An architect was paid 8,000 yuan (US$1,000) a month
three years ago, but now he can get 20,000 yuan (US$2,500), said Jao.
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