Salaries of SOE bosses to no longer be secret   

國家將建央企負責人薪酬公開制 直指隱性收入問題

(ECNS) – Bosses of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will soon be forced to reveal their salaries, the Economic Information Daily reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

China has been carrying out reforms of the SOE sector to raise its competitiveness. Apart from cutting excessive pay for executives, their incomes will also become public record, whether the company is listed or not.

In addition, those holding part-time jobs at subsidiary enterprises or outside companies will be banned from receiving any payments or bonuses from these sources.

"Grey income" is a highly controversial part of the hefty pay for SOE bosses. Li Jin, chief analyst at the China Enterprise Research Institute, said that the battle against grey income shows that China is very serious about the reform.

SOE executives' annual salaries are between 600,000 to 700,000 yuan ($98,000-$114,000), about 12 times the average pay for employees. The reform will cap the rate at seven to eight times.

The state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported over the weekend that pay cuts for bosses at 72 major SOEs, including China Mobile and China National Petroleum Corp., will start from the beginning of 2015.