Measures urged to close income gap
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-22 06:34

Top unionists expressed concerns over the low incomes and the slow wage increase rate among blue-collar workers after a national survey released recently.

The annual total income of the average worker in the country only accounted for 70 per cent of that of all employees working in cities, who earned just over 16,000 yuan (US$2,000) in 2004. The annual amount is half of the monthly income of the US workers.

A man collects recyclable garbage next to girls relaxing in a park in Shanghai, in this picture taken May 9, 2004. The gap between rich and poor in Shanghai is widening rapidly although the economy of China's financial hub grew 13.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year. [Reuters]

"It's evident that their income is meagre and what's more, some pay has been delayed," Dong Li, senior official with All-China Federation of Trade Unions, told China Daily.

The findings resulted from the federation's recent survey among 10,000 workers in 1,000 enterprises nationwide.

According to Dong, the respondents in the questionnaires suffer from low incomes, disparity in wages and inefficient payment procedures contributing to delayed wages.

The survey also found that farmers-turned-workers tend to have lower incomes.

An earlier national survey has shown that even in the relatively developed Pearl River Delta in South China's Guangdong Province, a migrant worker earns only around 700 yuan (US$85) per month.

Even worse, the migrants have always been worried about whether they would be paid their full wages. Since 2003, the central government has mobilized related departments to solve the problem, which is likely to affect social stability.

But not all workers earn less. Income for workers in State-owned monopoly sectors was far higher than that of blue-collar workers, Dong said.

This month, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission required its enterprises to stop "hasty pay increases" in some State-owned enterprises (SOEs).

"For those SOE workers whose pay is twice the amount of the local average income level, steps should be taken to slow down the rate of pay increases," the commission said in a circular.