中国考虑对国企高管限薪
China Regulators To Consider Caps On Executive Pay
China is considering a cap on executive pay at its state-owned enterprises, amid a rash of corporate scandals and growing concerns about the country's widening wealth gap.
Xu Kuangdi, a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a largely rubber-stamp advisory body, yesterday said regulators are formulating a policy that would limit a boss's pay to 14 times that of the average salary of a company's employees, according to the official Xinhua news agency .
If passed, the policy is expected to apply to 178 state-run companies at the central-government level under the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the agency that oversees state-owned companies, which account for a major part of the economy. Those affected could include the parents of numerous listed companies, including China National Petroleum Corp., parent company of New York- and Hong Kong-listed PetroChina Co., and China Mobile Communications Corp., parent company of New York- and Hong Kong-listed China Mobile. Regulators declined to comment on the potential salary cap.
The proposed policy underscores the dilemma facing Chinese policy makers as they seek to balance the needs of China's state sector and its overall population. To compete effectively with foreign companies at home and abroad, China's state-run behemoths must be able to attract and keep experienced managers. In recent years, both foreign companies and private Chinese companies have lured away some of the top Chinese talent with superior compensation packages; increasingly, state-run companies are battling back by offering competitive salaries.
At the same time, several corporate scandals and a widening gap between haves and have-nots in this erstwhile egalitarian society -- even among employees within individual companies -- have stirred complaints among ordinary Chinese and sparked fears among leaders of social unrest. A main theme at the current annual meeting of the CPPCC and the national legislature is to develop a "harmonious society," where wealth is spread more evenly among the population.
Mr. Xu's comments came in response to a question from a CPPCC delegate from the southwestern city of Chongqing, who asked about the "unfair distribution" of salaries among employees at some state-run companies. The delegate noted that the salary differential runs as high as 30 times in some companies, according to Xinhua.
Executives at China's state-owned enterprises used to determine their own pay packages, often leading to corruption and lack of accountability. While some managers of poor-performing companies prescribed fat salaries for themselves, other executives at successful companies continued to get paid little. In late 2003, China altered the pay-incentive system for state company employees, allowing payment in the form of base salaries, performance-based bonuses and long-term incentives such as stock options.
Executive pay at central-government-level state enterprises jumped 30% on average to 325,000 yuan, or about $39,000, in 2003 from the previous year's 250,000 yuan,, while average employee pay rose 22% to 24,000 yuan over the same period, according to the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. Average executive pay at these companies in 2003 was 13.5 times the average salary of regular employees, up from 12.7 times in 2002. The commission estimated that average executive pay would rise 16% in 2004, but didn't offer comparable figures for workers.
China Aviation Oil Holding Co., the country's monopoly jet-fuel supplier, has seen its Singapore subsidiary run into trouble because of huge losses sustained from oil-futures speculation last year. The subsidiary's chief executive, Chen Jiulin, received an annual salary of 23.5 million yuan in 2002, according to its annual report. The case has sparked critical editorials in many Chinese news media, including Xinhua, asking whether a manager of a state-run company should be making so much money. (See related article.)
中国考虑对国企高管限薪
由于公司丑闻层出不穷，以及对中国贫富差距扩大越来越感到担忧，中国正在考虑对国有企业管理人员的年薪上限进行限制。
官方的新华社(Xinhua news agency)报道，中国人民政治协商会议(Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference)副主席徐匡迪周一称，监管机构正在制定政策，将管理层的年薪定为不超过员工平均工资的14倍。
如果获得通过，这项新政策预计将在国务院国有资产监督管理委员会(State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission)下属的178家国有企业中实行。受到影响的将包括众多上市企业的母公司，如在纽约和香港上市的中国石油天然气股份有限公司(PetroChina Co., 简称：中国石油)的母公司中国石油天然气集团公司(China National Petroleum Corporation.)以及在纽约和香港上市的中国移动（香港）有限公司(China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., 简称：中国移动)的母公司中国移动通信集团公司(China Mobile Communications Corporation)。监管机构对设置工资上限的计划不予置评。
这项计划显示出中国政策制定者在寻求平衡国有部门需求同总人口需求的过程中面临的两难局面。为了在国内外同外资企业相抗衡，中国国有企业必须能够吸引和留住经验丰富的管理人员。近年来，外资企业和私营企业用一流的工资待遇吸引了最出色的人才，而目前中国国有企业也在通过提供具有诱惑力的工资提高竞争力。
与此同时，多起企业丑闻和社会贫富差距扩大使普通老百姓愤愤不平，并令领导人对可能引发社会动荡感到担忧。今年政协会议和人大会议的主题之一就是构建和谐社会，使财富能够更为公平地分配。
徐匡迪的讲话是对政协小组讨论会上一位重庆市代表就部分国有企业“分配不均”发表意见所作的回应。新华社报道，这位代表表示，部分公司的收入差距最高相差30倍。
中国国有企业的管理人员通常决定他们自己的工资，这就容易引发腐败行为和玩忽职守。在部分表现不佳的公司中，部分经理给自己发放高薪，而部分成功企业的管理人员的收入却很低。2003年末，中国改革了国有企业员工的工资激励机制，允许采用基础工资、绩效奖金和股票期权等长期激励措施的薪资发放体系。
根据国有资产监督管理委员会的数据，中央直属企业管理人员的平均工资在2003年增长30%，至人民币325,000元，约为39,000美元，高于2002年的250,000元；而员工的平均工资同期增长22%，至24,000元。2003年，这些企业管理人员的平均收入是普通员工的的13.5倍，高于2002年的12.7倍。该委员会预计，管理人员的平均收入在2004年增长了16%，但没有提供员工的相关数据。
去年，中国航空油料集团公司(China Aviation Oil Holding Co.)旗下的新加坡子公司因从事石油期货投机交易发生巨额亏损。根据公司的年报，这家子公司的总裁陈久霖在2002年的年收入是2,350万元。这引来了新华社等众多中国媒体的批评，它们纷纷质疑国有企业的经理是否应获得这么高的收入。
