Highlights of China's income distribution reform plan

China's State Council on Tuesday unveiled guidelines to reform the country's income distribution mechanisms, a long-awaited move amid growing public concern over a widening wealth gap.

The reform will focus on how to increase residents' income, narrow the income distribution disparity and regulate the distribution order, said a statement from the State Council.

Following are the highlights of the plan:

STATE FIRMS

-- The percentage of profits that central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have to hand in to the government will be increased by around 5 percentage points by 2015 from the current level and part of the added income will go to social security.

-- SOEs must impose ceilings on payments to their senior management who are appointed by the state and make sure senior staff's salary growth is slower than the average level for general employees.

-- Authorities will strictly control both the total amount of salaries and the average salary level at SOEs in sectors with excessively high income to gradually narrow the income gap between different sectors.

-- Proceeds from the use of public resources such as state-owned land, sea, forests, minerals and water must be shared by the public and most of the profits should go to public services.