China public sector urban employees' average pay growth slows in Q1

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- China reported a slowdown in the growth of
average wages for urban employees in the public sector to 13.4 percent
year-on-year growth in the first quarter, said the National Bureau of Statistics
on Wednesday.

The growth was 4.9 percentage points lower than the same period of last
year.

In the January-March period, urban employees' pay averaged 7,399 yuan
(about 1,057 U.S. dollars), 875 yuan more than the same period last year.

The average pay in the finance sector topped the list with 16,048 yuan. The
information technology sector came second with 13,972 yuan and scientific
research, technology service and geological survey sectors ranked third with
11,604 yuan.

The construction industry was at the bottom of the list with 5,109 yuan on
average.

Compared with the first quarter of 2008, pay growth in all sectors dropped.
For instance, the growth rate in the finance sector was 19.9 percent in the
first quarter of 2009, down 10.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

The NBS said urban employees in the statistics did not include workers in
private companies and self-employed businessmen. The average salaries were
calculated before taxes and included pension funds, medical insurance and legal
reserves of housing acquisition.