The Chinese government is considering a new measure to impose caps on average pay levels in monopoly industries to prevent employees in those sectors from earning too much, an official said yesterday, the Shanghai Securities News reported today.

Giving non-monopoly sector workers regular and steady pay rises and curbing excessive pay in monopoly industries are two ways to bridge income gap between monopoly and non-monopoly industries, said Qiu Xiaoping, from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

Official statistics have shown that employees of some profitable monopoly enterprises earn much more than the national average.

Average wages amongst Chinese workers grew by 12 percent a year from 2002 to 2006, underlining the cost pressures facing manufacturers, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Average annual wages reached 21,001 yuan (US$2,765) in 2006, up from 12,422 yuan in 2002, the NBS said.

In 2005, workers in the highest-paid industries earned 4.88 times those in the lowest-paid industries, who made only 2.63 times more in 2000, according to the statistics.

(Chinadaily.com.cn July 19, 2007)