The storied city of Suzhou is one of the top 10 highest-paying cities in China.
Today we’re breaking down multiple sources of public, local data to see what the average salary level really is in this megacity.
So let’s get to it! A dive into some 2024 Suzhou salary data…
💡 Why not use data from international sources, you ask? When it comes to salary figures in China, we’ve found a big discrepancy in the data provided by most outlets.
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Average Salary in Suzhou: Government Data
Suzhou Statistics Bureau
In July 2024, Suzhou’s Statistics Bureau[1] released its most recent data on urban salaries. The figures represent wage data collected throughout 2023.
They specifically split up the salary figures into private and non-private categories.
Suzhou is one of the, if not the, main manufacturing hubs in eastern China’s Yangzte River Delta[2] and one of the biggest in the world. Because of this, the private jobs data has a large group made up of domestic manufacturers.
Public jobs
Average annual income: ¥137,092 RMB ($19,326 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥11,424 RMB ($1,610 USD)
Private Jobs
Average annual income: ¥83,962 RMB ($11,836 USD)
Average monthly income: ¥6,997 RMB ($986 USD)
Data considerations:
The first thing to consider here is what they deemed private vs public. From the report:
Private entities specifically include: private limited liability companies, private joint stock companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships among domestic enterprises.
Non-private entities specifically include: domestic-funded (including government agencies and public institutions) units other than private units, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-invested enterprises, and foreign-invested enterprises.
The report also specifies what exactly the term ‘total wages‘ means here:
Total wages: It includes time wages, piece wages, bonuses, allowances and subsidies, overtime wages, wages paid under special circumstances, and is the sum of the total wages of on-the-job employees, the total wages of dispatched employees, and the total wages of other employees
The data collection method described in the report does leave this writer wanting a bit more clarification (a trend among city statistics bureaus). It seems to be a self-reported survey, likely required for submission by legal entities (as this is a government bureau after all). Here it is from the report:
A comprehensive survey method is adopted for legal entities that use one set of forms, and a sampling survey method is adopted for legal entities that do not use one set of forms.
Average Salary in Suzhou: Local HR Data
Suzhou Salary Data (Zhilian Zhaopin)
Local HR giant Zhaopin regularly releases salary data for cities across China. The above photo shows the top 38 cities’ average and median salary levels in Q2 2024.
Suzhou came in at the #7 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥10,936 RMB ($1,541 USD)/month. Suzhou’s median salary here is ¥9,001 RMB ($1,267 USD)/month.
Compared to Other Top Cities
Shanghai took the first spot with an average monthly salary of ¥13,732 RMB ($1,933 USD)/month.
Beijing ranked second with an average monthly salary of ¥13,351 RMB ($1,874 USD)/month.
Shenzhen comes in at the #3 spot with an average monthly salary of ¥12,799 RMB ($1,796 USD)/month.
Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Ningbo round out the top 8.
We also have median salary data here and can see the median of the top 3 cities – Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen – all exceeded ¥10,000 RMB ($1,393 USD)/month.
The median of the top 8 cities (including Suzhou) all exceeded ¥9,000 RMB ($1,267 USD)/month
It’s also interesting to note that there is a 59% difference in the median salary between the first (Shanghai) and last (Harbin) cities on this list.
Related Resources:
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