Chinese managers earn double compared to Indians

The average pay packages in China is double of that in India, reports the website Management Consulting, based on a report of Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Mercer compared 42 positions. The differences tend to increase as the jobs go up in the hierarchy.
HR managers earn an average of USD 28,800 in China, compared to USD 13,700 in India.

Mark Sullivan, worldwide partner at Mercer, said: 'While it is far cheaper to employ staff in both China and India than Europe or the US, India appears to have the advantage of slightly lower wage costs.

'Although wage costs are lower in India, there is a high demand for skilled workers there, particularly at the executive level. If demand continues to outweigh supply then we can expect wages to increase substantially over the next few years.'

'The challenge for employers is to make sure they retain their top staff and equip lower-level employees with the necessary skills to move up the organisation', Sullivan added.

Update: The Globe and Mail has more.

Steve Gross, the Mercer partner who heads its reward strategy consulting, agrees that the 248 Indian firms and 415 Chinese firms in the survey tend to be large in size and multinational organizations. "Small domestic firms do not complete surveys."

He said that while there may be differences in the absolute level of salaries inside each country, Mercer's conclusion that average Chinese wages far exceed those of India remains valid.