China economics: CPI and Union wages

CPI leaps to 8.7% in February, 11-year high

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-03-11 11:33

Inflation in February rose 8.7 percent year on year, the fastest monthly rise in more than a decade, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported on its website on Tuesday.

The accelerating price hikes, mostly contributed by skyrocketing food prices, have hardened the life of wage-earners and pensioners, Chinese analysts say, and will pressure China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, to increase benchmark interest rates, in the short run.

A customer buys vegetable at a market in Nanjing, Jiangsu province February 19, 2008. China's consumer price index (CPI), the major gauge of inflation, hit a new 11-year high of 8.7 percent in February on the back of skyrocketing food prices, announced the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Tuesday. [Agencies]

Union calls for regular wage rises

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-15 08:46

National union leaders said on Friday they will strive to secure regular pay rises for workers across the country to counter the effects of surging consumer prices.

Zhang Mingqi, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), said it has been working with government departments on a mechanism to ensure stable pay rises for workers so they can benefit from the country's economic boom.

Related readings: Unions vow to secure decent jobs CPI leaps to 8.7% in February, 11-year high

A recent survey by the federation found that more than 26 percent of China's workers had not received a pay rise in the past five years, despite the economy growing at an averaged 10.6 percent annually.