Economy
Shanghai raises minimum wage standard
Updated: 2011-03-03 13:34
(Xinhua)
BEIJING - Shanghai announced Wednesday it would raise minimum wages by up to 14 percent from April 1 to help low-income families keep up with surging prices.
The hike would bring the minimum monthly wage in the city to 1,280 yuan($194) from the current 1,120 yuan, the city's government said at a press conference.
It is the 18th adjustment since 1993 when Shanghai established the minimum wage mechanism.
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Minimum wages have been rising around the country since last year in the wake of labor shortages, a spate of strikes and surging inflation.
The consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of China's inflation, rose 4.9 percent in January from a year earlier as food prices increased 10.3 percent due to rising demand and a drought in key grain-growing regions.
Premier Wen Jiabao pledged during an on-line chat with the public Sunday that the government would raise salaries of low-income groups and minimum living allowances to ensure fair income distribution.
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