In recent years, the average wage of employed persons in urban units across the country has maintained a trend of increasing year by year. Data show that in 2021, the average annual salary of urban non-private employees nationwide will be USD 14,929, an increase of USD 1,321 over the previous year, a nominal increase of 9.7%. In 2021, the average annual salary of employed persons in urban private units nationwide will be USD 8,787, an increase of USD 720 over the previous year, and a nominal increase of 8.9%.

Non-private legal person units in the wage statistics survey include state-owned units, collective units, joint venture economies, joint-stock economies, foreign-invested economies, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan investment economies, etc. Overall, the average wage in the non-private sector is significantly higher than the average wage in the private sector. In 2021, the average annual salary of non-private employees in China's cities and towns exceeded the USD 13,973 mark for the first time.

So, by province, which provinces have higher average wages? The China Statistical Yearbook 2022, compiled and published by the National Bureau of Statistics, released the average wage data of urban non-private and private employees in 31 provinces in 2021. In terms of average salary, among the non-private enterprises, Beijing, Shanghai, Tibet, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Chongqing in 10 provinces exceeded USD 13,973. Among the 10 provinces, 6 are from the developed eastern coastal areas, namely the three municipalities directly under the central government of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and the three major southeast coastal economic provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition to the developed coastal areas, Tibet, Qinghai, Ningxia and Chongqing in the western region also rank in the top ten.

Among them, the average salary in Beijing and Shanghai is more than USD 26,550, far ahead among all provinces. Beijing and Shanghai are the two cities with the most prominent headquarters economy in China. In addition, there are many financial institutions in the two places, and R&D and innovation are very prominent. In general, there are many high-paying positions in Beijing and Shanghai, and the average salary is also high.

The data shows that in terms of industries, among the 19 industry categories, the three industries with the highest annual average wages are information transmission, software and information technology services USD 3,005, scientific research and technical services USD 21,209, and financial industry USD 21,078, respectively, 1.89 times, 1.42 times and 1.41 times the national average. The two municipalities directly under the central government of Beijing and Shanghai are also the areas with the highest concentration of these high-income industries.

Among them, the information transmission, software and information technology service industry, referred to as the IT industry, in addition to Internet enterprises such as games and e-commerce, also includes large state-owned enterprises such as mobile, China Unicom and telecommunications. Among them, Internet companies, especially large factories, have attracted widespread attention.

In contrast, the regions with lower wages are mainly located in the central and northeastern regions, with 10 provinces with non-private units earning less than USD 12,576 per year: Henan, Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Hebei, Jilin, Jiangxi, Gansu, Hunan, Liaoning and Guangxi.

Among urban private units, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu rank among the top five. Among them, the average salary of private units in Beijing has reached USD 13,973, which is the only province in the country where the average salary of employees in private units has exceeded the USD 13,973 mark. After Beijing, Shanghai ranked second with USD 13,414. Guangdong, the first major economic province, ranked third with USD 10,200. The top five provinces in terms of average wages of private units are all from developed eastern coastal areas.

There are eight provinces with an average salary of less than USD 6,986 in private sector employees in 2021, namely Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Gansu, Jilin, Henan, Hebei, Guangxi and Yunnan.

Table: Average wages of urban non-private and urban private employees in 31 provinces in 2021. (Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2022)

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