A number of ministries, including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Water Resources, have responded in the last week to various issues of public concern.

Increase in pay for key sector

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on June 21 that it will take measures to ensure technological workers' pay rises at a reasonable rate.

The ministry said it will push forward a mechanism in which workers can conduct collective negotiation with enterprises for wages and pay rises.

It will also step up an inquiry into wages at enterprises and improve norms for publishing the results of such inquiries.

The authority will also push forward the reform in the salary mechanism of State-owned enterprises. SOEs will be guided to establish a basic salary mechanism.

They will also be required to determine the wage level of different technological posts.

Enterprises will be encouraged to give workers equity rights, or allow workers to become shareholders through scientific and technological contributions.

China is facing a sharp shortage of technological workers with the number at 165 million, which is only 21.3 percent of the total workforce. The number of high-caliber technological workers is about 47 million, which is about 6 percent of the workforce.