Mar. 17 – Dezan Shira & Associates has released an updated cost of living chart detailing prices for a basket of goods and services in the Chinese cities where they operate. The firm used the following as price indicators set in minimum and maximum amounts: office rent in a grade A building, centrally-located western-styled apartment rental fees, minimum net salary for Chinese resident, average net salary of an unskilled Chinese resident worker, average net salary of a Chinese resident employee with 3-years work experience, taxi ride per kilometer, average Chinese canteen lunch set menu, average western food lunch set menu, price of one ticket for a newly-released Hollywood movie at the cinema, price of a dish of noodles and price of a pint of a western-style lager beer.

Dezan Shira & Associates also released an updated social welfare chart that catalogs the mandatory welfare payments employers must pay their Chinese employees in 2009. Because the funds are administered by divisions of local governments, these welfare payments differ from city to city and the percentages that should be contributed by employee and employer differs depending on the town in which the employee is a resident. The social welfare benefits generally cover six categories of benefits: Pension, medical insurance, maternity insurance, unemployment insurance, accident insurance and critical illness insurance. While the housing fund is not exactly a “social security,” it is a fund to which employers and employees need to contribute to.

To download, click below:

Cost of Living Chart

Mandatory Welfare Payments 2009

Further reading:
Managing Payroll in China