China loses low labor cost advantage: report  

报告称中国制造业工资已超东南亚 劳动力成本优势不再

(ECNS) -- A new report by the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences indicates that China no longer has a lower labor cost advantage over neighboring countries.

Pay rates in China have gone up substantially over the past ten years thanks to rapid economic development, a sharp increase in labor demand, a rising minimum wage and lower numbers of youth entering the labor force, the report points out.

The 2013 average salary in urban China was 51,474 yuan ($8,403) in non-private entities, 60,139 yuan ($9,817) in mining and 46,431 yuan ($7,579) in manufacturing. Year-on-year salary increases in the latter two industries hit 5.6 percent and 11.5 percent respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Monthly average incomes in the country's manufacturing industry surpassed that of most Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, the report revealed.

The monthly basic pay of a blue collar worker in Shanghai is up to 6.97 times that of similar earnings in Rangoon and at least 1.15 times as much as in Kuala Lumpur, according to data from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

The report also indicates that though pay levels for highly qualified workers will keep increasing swiftly, future income levels in China would not rise as sharply as during the past few years, when factors such as lower growth rates, business performance, minimum wage standards and labor supply are taken into consideration.