Shanghai will raise the minimum monthly wage, subsidies allocated to residents living below the poverty line, and unemployment insurance from April 1.

The minimum monthly wage will be raised from 840 yuan to 960 yuan, reflecting the sharp rise in the Consumer Price Index, Bao Danru, vice director of Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau, said at a press conference yesterday.

Part-time workers will also see their minimum wage rise to eight yuan per hour from the current 7.5 yuan.

The minimum wages don't include social insurance fees that companies must pay to cover part of their employees' medical insurance, unemployment insurance and pension payments. Also not included are payments for working overtime, traffic allowances and housing allowances.

Workers who find their payment is less than the minimum wage can call the hotline 12333 and the bureau will send officials to investigate, Bao said.

Shanghai was the first city on China's mainland to set up a minimum wage system. It is the 14th time the city has raised minimum wages since the system was adopted in 1993.

Statistics show the average monthly income of city employees in 2007 was 2,892 yuan, a 17.4 percent increase from 2006.

Meanwhile, unemployment insurance will be raised by about 70 yuan from next month, ranging from 410 yuan to 550 yuan monthly depending on the recipients' age and how long they have been unemployed.

Downtown residents who live under the city poverty level will receive subsidies of 400 yuan per month - 50 yuan more than before.

Those living in villages will get 3,200 yuan a year, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau announced.

By the end of last year, the subsidies applied to 339,400 downtown residents and 118,300 people in villages.

The Shanghai Medical Insurance Bureau said it will ensure laid-off people an equal level of individual medical insurance to city workers.

(Shanghai Daily March 26, 2008)