More than 160 State-run companies in Jing'an district have started to disclose the salaries of high-level executives to their employees, the Laodong Daily reported.

The government-sponsored disclosure is part of an effort to narrow the salary gap between executives and rank-and-file employees, and increase transparency at State-run enterprises.

The measure applies to anyone at the companies who receives an annual salary, including board members and top-level managers, said Lu Yanghong, a senior director from the Jing'an District Labor Union. The companies will tell employees about the salaries through their employee congresses.

Several government agencies, including the discipline inspection and State-run assets authorities ordered the companies to make the disclosure, Lu said.

Lu called Jing'an district a pioneer in executive pay disclosure. "No other district in Shanghai has made such a large step," he told the Global Times.

Asking the State-run enterprises to expose executive pay could push them to increase the salaries of ordinary employees in an effort to head off complaints about a salary gap, Lu said. "There will be complaints if a senior manager is making 500,000 yuan ($80,492) while an ordinary employee is getting 20,000 yuan a year," Lu said.

When asked whether companies will disclose other executive benefits, such as payment cards, Lu said that few companies provide executives with payment cards these days. He did not address any of the other perks executives have received in the past.

About 99 percent of the State-run companies in Jing'an district have already started to make the disclosures, Lu said.