Senior managers of Chinese listed firms have earned more income over the past three years, with average annual salaries reaching nearly 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) last year, according to the annual reports of 1,300 domestic listed firms in 2003, the International Financial News reported today.

Senior managers of nine listed firms earned more than one million yuan last year, with the manager of Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings Co Ltd topping the list by earning four million yuan in 2003.

The average salaries of listed firms reached nearly 200,000 yuan last year, 40,000-plus yuan more than that of a year earlier, with the figure trending upward for three consecutive years.

A growing number of Chinese listed firms begin to focus more on investing in human resources as a stimulus to woo more highly-qualified professionals, said an industry analyst.

On the contrary, there are still many listed firms undervalued their senior managers, with the salaries they could get not keeping in line with the values they created, the analyst pointed out.

The lowest annual salaries reached only 6,800 yuan, arousing doubts among investors on the quality of the released information, the analyst added.

Source: Xinhua