China Salaries to Jump 12.8% Amid High Turnover
By wchung | 01 Apr, 2026

Salaries in China are expected to jump another 12.76% in 2012 after a 13.14% jump in 2011, according to the management consulting firm Adafaith. Salary growth is expected to be even faster in western China and among second and third-tier cities.

More than half of China’s businesses gave pay raises to workers in 2011, with 30% giving raises across the board, according to Adafaith.

Cities in western China topped out the average per-capita wage increases at 14.35%. Second- and third-tier cities led wage growth while the biggest cites of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen lagged in wage hikes.

Smaller private firms are expected to offer wage hikes of 13.33% this year, the same as last year. That’s much higher than hikes being offered by the larger state-run and foreign firms.

Sales enjoyed the biggest wage growth with an average of 25.02%, followed by production with over 20%, and research and development.

The overall employee turnover rate was 26.8% in 2011. The manufacturing sector suffered the highest at 35.6%, followed by the general services and engineering services industries at 34.8% and 30.2%, respectively.

The lowest turnover of 17.1% was enjoyed by the energy and chemical industry.

Departure were prompted by low wages and little sense of loyalty on the part of workers, according to the report.