Shanghai tops list of China’s highest earners, but national wealth gap continues to grow
Average salary in financial centre rose 9pc in first three months to US$2,700, more than five times the figure in Tibet
The income gap between workers in China’s richest and poorest provinces widened in absolute terms in the first three months of the year, according to official figures, although salaries generally rose faster in deprived regions.
Shanghai retained the top spot on the list of 31 province-level jurisdictions, with residents of the financial hub earning an average of 17,277 yuan (US$2,700) over the January-March period, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Based on figures published for last year, that represents an increase of 9.1 per cent from the equivalent period of 2017.
China’s capital Beijing ranked second on the list, with its residents seeing their average quarterly income rise 8.3 per cent from last year to 15,767 yuan.
At the bottom were the autonomous regions of Tibet (3,136 yuan) and Xinjiang (4,593 yuan), both of which are located in the far west of the country.
Despite its position at the foot of the table, salaries in Tibet actually rose by 12.3 per cent from last year, faster than anywhere else in the country.