The minimum wage will be increased in an effort to help ease the worsening labour shortage in this booming southern city.

Workers are going to where salaries are higher and around 100,000 jobs could be vacant. With that in mind, from July 1 the local government will raise the minimum wage in the special economic zone to 690 yuan (US$83) per month, up from 610 yuan (US$74).

The new level, excluding overtime and other bonuses , is the highest among cities.

The minimum wage in Guangzhou is 684 yuan (US$83) and Shanghai's is 635 yuan (US$77).

Workers in Shenzhen's two other districts, outside the designated special economic zone, must receive at least 580 yuan (US$70) per month, up 20.8 per cent from the previous 480 yuan (US$58), according to the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social Securities.

More than 4.3 million workers are registered with local labour administrations, but only a quarter of them work in the special economic zone, official figures indicate.

Huang Zaoji, deputy director of the bureau, said the minimum wage is being raised "because we will find ourselves in an unfavourable situation amid the fierce competition for workers if Shenzhen keeps a low minimum salary."

Last year, in an effort to attract workers from inland regions, cities in the country's two industrial boom areas, East China's Yangtze River Delta area and South China's Pearl River Delta area, raised the minimum wage well above Shenzhen's level at the time.

According to a recent survey by the bureau, companies in Shenzhen, especially labour-intensive factories, could be short of a total of 100,000 workers. The situation could get worse if the government does nothing to entice labourers to the area.

"We believe the adjustment is rational and the revised minimum salary is attractive to labourers. It will definitely give them enough to live on," said Xu Shaoying, a deputy director of the local labour bureau.

Official figures show the average income of a Shenzhen employee reached 1,208 yuan (US$146) per month last year, including 273 yuan (US$33) overtime pay.

Xu warned that firms which fail to pay the minimum wage could be fined up to 50,000 yuan (US$6,000).

(China Daily)

bonus: anything that tends to arouse（獎金，紅利）