Graphics: Slashing SOE Executive Pay

(Beijing) – Senior executives at 72 state-owned enterprises started earning less on January 1. Leaders of giants such as China National Petroleum Corp., China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and China Mobile were the among the people affected by the reform announced by the Politburo, the Communist Party's 25-member decision-making body, in August. SOE bosses in China are usually appointed by the government and the party, and they often have much more generous pay packets than people in similar positions in private companies. Government data shows that the principal executives of SOEs listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen got an average of 765,000 yuan pay in 2013, several times more than the figure for executives at other listed companies. Qiu Xiaoping, the vice minister of human resources and social security, has said the reform will see some executives salaries cut dramatically. The government's other stated goals for the reform are to narrow the gaps in remuneration at various levels within SOEs and easing the growth of executive pay so it is slower than that of lower-level workers.