The following is an article I found on a local business website, there are no exact figures released at this time for the minimum wage rises but it’s definitely something that needs to be planned for if you’re currently manufacturing in the region.

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Senior managers at Nasdaq-listed Flextronics, one of southern China’s largest manufacturers, however, say at least one city in the Pearl River Delta could adjust wages as early as next month, and the scale could be more aggressive than in Jiangsu.

“I think they will (increase the minimum wage),” said Jun Fu, the head of the Flextronics sprawling industrial complex in Zhuhai which employs around 44,000 employees.

“I wouldn’t call it a drastic adjustment but definitely more than (the) normal adjustment,” Fu told Reuters.

Jayesh Menon, a senior director of human resources at the Flextronics plant, said the rise would most likely come in April.

“It’s about a 15 to 20 percent increase,” said Menon, citing indications from Zhuhai labour bureau officials. “Roughly to about 930 yuan (per month),” he added.

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In nearby Dongguan, a gritty, densely packed manufacturing hub in the PRD, factories have also been provisioning for a minimum wage hike from the current level of around 780 yuan.

“It will be implemented soon, in April I believe,” said Eddie Leung, a Hong Kong industrialist and honorary president of the Dongguan Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment, who attended recent meetings with officials in Beijing.

Leung, however, said the impact for larger factories like his own that makes watches for global brands, might anyway be largely immaterial, with many firms already having stomached inflated wage costs amid the tightening labour market.

“The factories can’t hire people with the minimum wage anyway because most are already paying much more than it right now,” he added. “It’s (the minimum wage) just a reference point.”

Scores of the region’s smaller factories, however, in labour intensive and low technology sectors like garments, shoes and toys could be squeezed by the wage increase, he added.”

You can read the full article here.

Mark C