Nearly 13 percent of Chinese firms were found to be paying their employees less than the local minimum wage last year, according to a national inspection carried out by China's trade unionists.

"Workers' wages on the average were rising rapidly, but some employees were underpaid and their wages dwindled year by year," Dong Li, director of the expenses review committee under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said on Thursday.

The average wage of employees in some firms was only 68 percent of the local average wages, Dong said.

According to the international standard, the minimum wage was set at 40 - 60 percent of the local average, but some employees were underpaid, Dong said.

The situation varied among regions, industrial sectors and firms, Dong said, adding that "it was common for some firms to demand overtime, but to delay the payment of wages."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in his annual government work report that the government should endeavor to raise urban residents' income by overhauling income distribution and by increasing the wages of the low-paid.

Unionists have urged the government to make wage rises a criteria in evaluating the work of state firm managers, and to issue regulations guaranteeing fair payment of employees.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)