Shanghai will adjust its minimum monthly wage and increase pension payments as part of its 10 measures to enhance people's lives in the second half of this year, officials said at the recent plenary session of the city's Communist Party.

The move came after China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security pledged in May to raise wages for ordinary employees, an effort to ensure fair pay and improve relations between workers and employers.

However, it wasn't clear if the standard will be raised or cut. The minimum monthly salary now in Shanghai is 750 yuan (US$99.15), which was set in August.

Retired people will receive 150 yuan more in their monthly pension in the wake of rising food prices.

The Consumer Price Index grew 4.4 percent in June, the fastest pace in three years, and gained 3.2 percent in the first half of this year, said the National Bureau of Statistics today.

Subsidies allocated to residents in rural areas will also be adjusted. Now, township residents receive subsidies of 320 yuan per month, while those living in villages get 213 yuan.

Meanwhile, the government will adjust standards of employment insurance and compensation over industrial injuries.

More families with low incomes can move to budget houses by the end of this year.

And the systems of recording and allocating pension funds in rural areas will be polished, while the payment system of the fund for township residents will be improved.

Shanghai's Labor and Social Security Bureau also issued salary guidelines in May suggesting employers give workers an average pay raise of nine percent this year.

(Shanghai Daily July 19, 2007)