(ECNS) -- Korn Ferry Hay Group, a preeminent global advisory firm, forecasts Chinese workers will see their real wages increase by 6.3 percent in 2016.
Workers around the world are expected to see real wage increases of 2.5 percent next year, the highest in the past three, the report said.
In Asia, real wages are forecast to increase by 4.2 percent– the highest globally. Herein, the largest real wage increases are forecast for Vietnam (7.3 percent), China (6.3 percent) and Thailand (6.1 percent).
Despite an economic slowdown, turbulent stock markets and declining exports, Chinese workers are still set to see an eight-percent salary increase in 2016 due to the rising need for skilled workers and the steady growth of a burgeoning middle class, the report stated, adding that the inflation forecast for China in 2016 is 1.7 percent.
Meanwhile, local governments in China have implemented a new round of minimum monthly wages, with Heilongjiang, Chongqing and Guizhou all granting a more-than-20-percent increase.
Su Nanhai, deputy head of China Association for Labor Studies, said the minimum wage, usually 40 percent to 60 percent of the average social wage, may have seen a continuous increase with the labor force decreasing annually.
