Shenzhen tops major Chinese cities for the minimum wage standard, a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security news conference was told Monday, July 25.

The minimum monthly wage in Shenzhen is 1,320 yuan (US$200).

Beijing paid the highest salary at 13 yuan per hour, said Yin Chengji, a spokesperson for the ministry.

In the first half of 2011, 18 provinces and municipalities increased minimum wages.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the minimum wage would be increased by 13 percent a year.

Shenzhen increased the minimum wage from 1,000 to 1,320 yuan in April, the largest single wage rise in the past 19 years.

The wage rise was aimed at solving the labor shortage facing cities in China’s manufacturing belt on the southeastern coast.

Minimum wages have been rising throughout the country since last year in the wake of labor shortages and surging inflation.

The consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 5.4 percent year on year in the first six months, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said last week.

Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of the basket of goods in CPI calculations, rose 11.8 percent from a year earlier in the first six months, according to the NBS. The figure was higher than the 11-percent increase in the first quarter.

Average annual salaries had risen by at least 15 percent in the past 10 years.

Yin also said there were 9 million urban unemployed at the end of June.