People expressed dissatisfaction with their salary for good reasons, says a signed article from the Xinhua News Agency's web site. An excerpt follows:

According to a recent survey by a magazine published by the People's Daily, 96.5 percent of those surveyed are dissatisfied with their salary.

This is a high proportion and could become a major problem if not well dealt with.

Several reasons are behind the dissatisfaction.

The first is that a large group of people still earn a relatively low salary.

The average income was improved after a reform of the salary system in the mid-1990s, but there are always workers whose income is below the average. If price hikes are taken into consideration, some workers even see their actual buying power reduced.

During the past decade, the country's economy has grown at a high rate while the average income has not kept pace. This also results in the relatively low income of many.

The second reason for public discontent with salaries is the dramatic income gap. Against the big picture of most people not earning much, employees in the monopoly industries are well rewarded, especially the managers of the monopoly players.

Of course, an appropriate income difference helps motivate employees and improve work efficiency. But employees will only feel unfairly treated if the difference is too great.

The third reason is that people feel the high income of managers does not come from their achievements but from their position. The managerial members of State-owned enterprises get handsome payment even if the enterprises do not perform well, even losing money.

Common people have to live on their salary so their opinion about salary is an important indicator of their view of society.

They are unlikely to feel content when they find prices rising, the salaries of employees in monopoly industries rising, but their own buying power remaining the same or shrinking.

The high proportion of people disappointed with their salary reflects a strong demand for social fairness, which should attract the attention of policymakers.

(China Daily June 11, 2007)