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) |