A slower increase in salaries in 2016 across China confirms the country is experiencing an economic slowdown, but that a drop in salaries is unlikely, experts said Tuesday.
Compared to 2015 salary guidelines, those for 2016 have grown at a slower rate in most of the 19 provinces and regions that have so far published their annual guidelines for firms.
Shanghai has reduced its wage increase to 8 percent from last year's 10 percent.
Salary guidelines are issued by local governments as a reference to help firms decide how much they should increase their employees' salaries. They are based on labor market conditions and economic growth, among other factors.
"Since China's labor contract law was adopted in 2007, wage increases have surpassed economic growth," said Wang Jiangsong, a professor at the China Institute of Industrial Relations, told the Global Times.He said the slowdown reflects China's economic downturn.
However, Zhang Chewei, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Population and Labor Economics, said the slower increase will not result in a decline in wages any time soon, the Ningxia Daily reported.
Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has not released salary guidelines in years. Wang said the region has been experiencing a recession, therefore, wages have not increased.
