East China province raises minimum wage by 10 pct

JINAN -- East China's Shandong province will raise its minimum pay by about 10 percent next month in a bid to attract workers and help them offset rises in living costs.

As of March 1, the minimum monthly wage for full-time workers in Shandong will be raised to 1,500 yuan ($245), 1,350 yuan or 1,200 yuan in the province's different cities, depending on economic level, the provincial government said in a statement Tuesday.

The 1,500 yuan level is the fifth highest nationwide.

The rise in minimum wage in Shandong mirrors similar moves in other parts of the country where fewer new workers are entering the labor force. The rapid rise in living costs is also a factor behind the wage hikes.

The growing wages highlight the challenge for the world's second-largest economy, with its low-cost exporters reporting low margins or being forced to move factories to inland regions.

The southeastern manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, raised its minimum monthly wage this month by 13 percent to 1,808 yuan, the highest nationwide, to help attract workers to tackle labor shortages.