25% of workers report no wage increase in 5 years
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Despite all the talk about China's rapidly growing economy, about 25 percent of all workers have not received a pay raise in more than five years, according to the All-China Federation of Trade Union.
Many people who fall in the middle-income bracket want the government to lower the income tax so they could keep more of their wages, People's Daily reported Monday.
The trade union said that a survey of workers found that workers at monopoly industries such as tobacco firms received 55 percent of all wages in the country. These industries employ only about 8 percent of the nation's workers.
Various regions have raised their local minimum wage this year. Most of them have increased the minimum wage by 10 percent.
Still many people have complained that they have not received a significant pay raise.
Chen Jing told People's Daily that he made 3,000 yuan ($448) six years ago as a junior-level worker. She was promoted to manager, but her wage went up only to 4,000 yuan ($597). "It is very stressful living in the city," she said.
Zhang Jian, 37, an assistant professor who earns 8,000 yuan ($1,195), told the paper that he pays 1,000 yuan ($149) a month in tax. He said the government should lower the tax rate to alleviate the burden of middle-income workers.
Su Hainan,a deputy chairman of China Association for Labor Studies, told the Global Times that some companies do not have a solid wage distribution mechanism to encourage workers to give more.
"Some enterprises don't have a perfect wage distribution system and mechanism, which means that some workers' incomes haven't gone up in many years," Su said.
