The average income for urban workers in the Chinese capital hit 36,097 yuan (about US$4,512) last year, a rise of 3,289 yuan (about US$411) from a year ago.

According to statistics provided by the municipal bureau of statistics, the top wage earners were people working in securities and banking services, legal services, transport services, petroleum and natural gas exploitation. They earned more than 100,000 yuan (about US$12,500) on average over the past year.

They were followed by people working in the insurance, corporate financing and computer services sectors. They earned between 80,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan on average.

Employees in telecommunications, tobacco, software, radio and TV services earned less than 80,000 yuan last year.

The lowest salary earners were security guards who only made 9,000 yuan on average last year. They were followed by workers in furniture making, catering, textiles, garments and footwear who earned less than 19,000 yuan.

The data was collected from workers with state enterprises, collectives, joint ventures, solely-foreign invested ventures in Beijing. It did not include employees of home-based businesses.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)