China's financial industry has beaten rivals again as it reported the highest annual salary of 91,364 yuan ($14,400) in the non-private sector last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Information technology salaries ranked second with an average of 70,600 yuan, while salaries in the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery sectors came last at 20,400 yuan.
Meanwhile, in the private sector, IT employees earned the highest salaries at 35,500 yuan. Financial industry workers ranked third with only 28,600 yuan.
In 2011, private sector employees took home an average of 24,556 yuan, compared to 42,452 yuan in the non-private sector.
Liu Yuanchun, the deputy dean of the School of Economics at the Renmin University of China, said that the figures might not reflect the overall income level in China.
"For the high-income population, salary income only contributes a small part in their total income. For instance, some management might get options or shares as bonuses, which are not calculated," Liu said. "So the income gap must be wider than it was showed."
