Recruiting in China

It won't be long before Chinese bank workers make more than their South Korean counterparts in terms of average annual salary.
The Beijing Times on Thursday released a report on the average annual salaries of employees in 14 Chinese banks in 2007. According to the report, China's best-paid bank employees work at Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, where the average annual salary is 366,700 yuan, or roughly W55 million (US$1=W997).

That's very close to the average annual salary of South Korean bank workers, which is W64 million. Even South Korea's best-paid bank workers -- at the Korea Development Bank -- make only W76 million per year on average.

And in terms of real purchasing power, Chinese bank workers make far more than their South Korean counterparts. According to the U.S. CIA Factbook, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, Chinese workers actually earn about double the amount of their income as figured in U.S. dollars by the nominal yuan-dollar exchange rate.

According to this standard, the average annual salary of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank employees in 2007 was more than W110 million, much more than that of South Korea's KDB employees.

According to the Beijing Times report, China's next best-paying bank was CITIC Bank (average annual salary of 242,200 yuan, W36.33 million), followed by China Minsheng Bank (231,800 yuan, W34.77 million).