Rising labor costs are an increasing problem for China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to survey results released on Tuesday by the China Center for Promotion of SME Development.
Some 79 percent of the businesses surveyed complained about rising labor costs, up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, while 66 percent reported high financing costs.
Other problems include increasing costs of production materials, tax rises, the sluggish market and difficulties in recruitment.
Head of the center Qin Zhihui said economic headwinds have made life difficult for SMEs, and called for more government policies to ease the situation for businesses.
The government has already taken steps including cutting or scrapping administrative fees and boosting financial support. Earlier this month, it announced that another 37 administration charges will be canceled from November.
