Provincial govts raise minimum wages by 20%

By Liu Sheng in Shanghai Source:Global Times Published: 2012-7-26 1:05:06

File photo: Yangcheng Evening News
File photo: Yangcheng Evening News

A total of 16 provincial-level regions had raised the minimum wage by the end of June, with an average increase of 19.7 percent, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) Wednesday.

Shenzhen, the pioneer of China's economic reform drive three decades ago, had the highest nationwide minimum wage at 1,500 yuan ($234) per month. Beijing has the highest minimum hourly wage at 14 yuan ($2.10) per hour, according to figures released by the ministry.

According to the ministry's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), the minimum wage increase rate will be kept above 13 percent year-on-year across the country. 

The Regulation on Minimum Wages, released in 2004, stipulates that the minimum wage should be adjusted at least once every two years.

Shanghai made the move earlier, raising the minimum wage level 18 times since 1993, from 210 yuan to the current 1,450 yuan a month.

Nationwide, Hainan Province landed at the bottom of the minimum wage table at 830 yuan, which has not been raised since July 2010. The local government has pledged to raise the level by the end of this year, according to local news portal Hinews.cn.

"Increases in the minimum wage can better protect the legitimate incomes of the low-income group, who sometimes only get several hundred yuan a month," said Wang Surong, a professor of taxation at University of International Business and Economics. 

However, there is still a long way to go before people at the bottom of society can enjoy a more decent life, experts say.

Official statistics show that Beijing residents' monthly wages averaged 4,672 yuan in 2011, followed by Shanghai and Zhejiang Province.

Meanwhile, daily consumption prices have continued rising in recent years, as real estate prices have also skyrocketed - the average housing price per square meter in Shanghai reached 22,000 yuan in 2011, several times the figure of a few years ago.

There were also reports about employers evading the minimum pay regulations by prolonging workers' working hours or including food and boarding costs in workers' salaries.

To better protect low-income earners' living standards, local governments could improve the basic social endowment and medical insurance, which are most needed in rural areas, according to Wang.

By the end of June, a total of 43 million and 49 million rural residents had signed up for pension insurance and medical insurance respectively, increasing by 14 million and 3 million compared to the end of last year, according to Yin Chengji, spokesman of MHRSS.

Yin rejected claims that there is a 2.2 trillion yuan gap in China's pension funds.

"The country has collected more than 2 trillion yuan in pension insurance funds, and since the income of pension insurance funds far exceed expenditure, there's no difficulty in paying pensions on time," Yin added.



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