Survey: East richer than west
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-04-26 08:02

Employees in East China earn more than those in other parts of the country, a new survey shows.

The same is true for executives, many of whom have seen their salaries rise sharply since China kicked off market reforms more than 20 years ago.

The survey showed 70.8 per cent of Chinese employees earn between 800 to 2,500 yuan (US$96.74 to 302.3) per month.

The survey was conducted by an institute under the State Council's Development Research Center.

The survey covered 1,883 enterprises sampled across the country in the past 12 months.

Of all the firms surveyed, 27.4 per cent or the largest group paid 1,200 to 1,800 yuan a month, 23.8 per cent paid 800 to 1,200 yuan, and 19.6 per cent paid 1,800 to 2,500 yuan.

And 4.7 per cent of the surveyed paid less than 800 yuan monthly while 0.2 per cent paid more than 8,000 yuan (US$970).

People in East China were richer than in Central and West China. The report showed that 67.3 per cent of the firms in East China had an average monthly salary of 800 to 2,500 yuan, while 64.2 per cent in Central China and 66 per cent in West China paid an average of 800 to 1,800 yuan a month to their employees.

Of the surveyed enterprises in West China, 6.5 per cent paid their employees a monthly income of less than 800 yuan. The percentage of this income group in West China was higher than in other parts of the country.

Firms with foreign investment or investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan accounted for most of the employees earning more than 5,000 yuan (US$600) a month, compared with State-owned ones, joint stock companies and private companies.

People working in the banking and insurance industries earned the most among all industries surveyed. Some 67.3 per cent of the firms in this sector had a monthly salary of more than 2,500 yuan and their percentage of employees earning more than 8,000 yuan a month was also the highest.

The mining industry was the lowest paid. Of all mining enterprises surveyed, 62.5 per cent had a monthly salary of 800 to 1,200 yuan. According to the survey, some 72.7 per cent of Chinese employees was satisfied with their salary.

Around 72.7 per cent of the employees surveyed said they were "satisfied," "very much satisfied" or "quite satisfied" with their pay while the rest ticked off "unsatisfied" or "quite unsatisfied," the report said.

According to the DRCSC, employees in West and Central China are more satisfied with their income than those in the eastern region.

Some 75.8 per cent of the employees surveyed in Central China and 76. 5 per cent in West China said their salary was satisfactory compared to 71.6 per cent in East China.

Central China had the most employees who were "very much satisfied" and "quite satisfied" with their pay, the report added.

Some 82.1 per cent of the employees of collective enterprises was content with the pay while 71.1 per cent in State-owned ones, 71.5 per cent in private ones and 73.9 per cent in foreign-funded, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded companies.

The report noted that 90.3 per cent of employees working for a public utility was satisfied with their salary, the highest ratio among all industries, and the lowest 62.7 per cent fell on post service.

Executives in Chinese enterprises have seen the gap between their pay and that of ordinary employees grow over the last two decades of economic reform, said the survey.