Chinese netizens on Tuesday vented their frustrations to a senior government official on a live chat forum on the central government's official website, protesting that their wages had been rising much slower than official figures suggested.

"Many of my colleagues have complained their wage have increased too slowly and we don't have as much spending money as in recent years," a netizen named "budongjiuwen", which literally means "ask if you don't understand", told Qiu Xiaoping, director of the wages department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS).

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics paint a rosier picture. The average annual inflation-adjusted income of Chinese employees has increased 12 percent in four years from 12,422 yuan (1,637 U.S. dollars) in 2002 to 21,001 yuan in 2006.

Another netizen named "Mobile Laborer" doubted his wages had increased at the level indicated by the official statistics.

"Wages may rise in private companies, but not in state-owned ones like the one I work for," the netizen said. "I haven't noticed any rise in my wages for years."

"People may not feel there has been much rise in their incomes largely due to inflation," said Qiu Xiaoping.
From March to May, the consumer price index (CPI) remained over the government target of three percent, with the price for meat and eggs soaring 26.5 percent and 37.1 percent in May.

Property prices, tuition fees and medical charges are still major burdens for ordinary Chinese citizens.

The average housing price in 70 major Chinese cities rose six percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2007, with the price in Shenzhen up 10.7 percent and Beijing, 9.9 percent.

"Wages also increased at a different rate in various sectors," said Qiu.

The gap in average annual income between sectors of the highest wages and the lowest were 32,249 yuan in 2005 from 8,436 yuan in 2000, according to statistics.

The average salary of workers in China's monopoly sectors, such as the telecommunications, finance and tobacco industries, is three times the national average, excluding bonuses which often take salaries up to ten times the national average.

Bu Zhengfa, former vice minister of the MLSS, has acknowledged that relatively exorbitant salaries offered by monopoly firms, mostly state-owned ones, had become the biggest problem in the country's income distribution system.

To narrow the rich-poor gap, the government is planning to collect more taxes from monopoly firms, said Qiu, who also called for the introduction of competition into these sectors.

The official also called for more efforts to increase the wages of employees in other sectors. 
  

Editor: Yan