China’s urban employees see average salary grow in 2021

The average salary of China's urban employees in the non-private sector topped 100,000 yuan (US$14,929) for the first time.
By: | May 24, 2022

This was according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which said the real growth of the average salary for urban employees in the non-private sector, adjusted for inflation, rose by 8.6% to 106,837 yuan (US$15,950).

In the private sector, the annual average salary stood at 62,884 yuan (US$9,388), up 7.8% year-on-year after price factors were deducted.

“The salary level and the growth of the information transmission, software and information technology services sector have remained at a high level in recent years, in step with the development of informatisation,” according to bureau official Wang Pingping.

Robust online consumption demand boosted by the COVID-19 helped push the wage rise in related information industries, Wang said. 

In 2021, non-private and private urban employees engaged in the information transmission, software and information technology services sector saw an average salary growth of 13.5% and 13.2%, respectively. 

Last year also saw financial businesses warm after being hit hard by the pandemic in 2020. Non-private urban employees in the capital market services sector saw their average salary surge by 21.2% year on year in 2021. 

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NBS data shows that the average wage of urban employees in the contact-based services sector resumed growth from a relatively low base in 2020, with the average wage in the non-private accommodation and catering sector increasing 9.8% and its private counterpart rising 10.8% year-on-year, according to Xinhua.