Recruiting in China

Recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the average pre-tax salary for workers in the Chinese automobile industry is now at 13.58 yuan ($2.178) per hour, according to a report appearing on auto.163.com today. The salary level is considered average in the overall Chinese manufacturing industry. Furthermore, statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics further reveal that wages in the Chinese manufacturing industry have doubled from 2002 to 2008, while those in the US have only increased by 20 percent. Despite these advances, average wages for workers in the industry in China are just four percent of the average level in the US.

As far as the country's automobile industry is concerned, it is also important to differentiate between domestic own brand manufacturers and Sino-foreign joint venture enterprises. Statistics from Aon Hewitt Consulting show that wages in that monthly wages for first-class workers at Chinese automobile manufacturers can vary between 1,800 yuan and 4,000 yuan ($288.81-$641.79). This difference is most noticeable in yearly bonuses. Last year, FAW-VW awarded its workers with a yearly bonus of between 50,000 yuan and 80,000 yuan ($8,022-$12,836), nearly ten times greater the bonuses granted by domestic manufacturers Chery and Jianghuai.

The large discrepancy in pay between the Chinese and American automobile industries is also evident among company executives. The combined annual salaries of 15 top level executives from nine of China's largest domestic manufacturers–BYD, Great Wall, Geely, JMC, Foton, GAC, SAIC, Yutong and Sinotruck–in 2012 was calculated to be 24.78 million yuan ($3.97m), only around one-fifth of Ford CEO Alan Mulally's annual salary of $20.99 million.