Staff Pay Cut at China's Central Bank and Securities Regulator

Staff at China’s central bank and the country’s securities regulator have suffered a pay cut this year.

The budget allocation for employee salaries has been reduced after reforms ordered as part of a broader drive to reduce income disparity.

The 2023 budget report for the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) was released on Friday, while the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) budget report was released in late March.

The CSRC’s budget for total staff salaries and benefits dropped to 170.3 million yuan ($24.64 million), 17% lower than in 2022, according to calculations based on the CSRC’s budget report.

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The PBOC’s budget for salaries and stipends was 10.6% lower at 21 billion yuan ($3.04 billion), calculations showed.

Analysts said central bank and CSRC staff had faced possible pay cuts as a result of the reforms to financial regulatory bodies announced in March that had called for their staff’s pay to be put on par with public servants.

The reforms also envisaged a 5% reduction in staff levels.

Wages at leading Chinese investment banks have also been trending downward amid a slowing economy and the government’s “common prosperity” rhetoric.

‘Common prosperity’ is a campaign to redress chronic inequality across the country after more than four decades of breakneck economic growth, which exacerbated income gaps and was unable to ensure the dramatic surge in wealth was shared among citizens.

China’s anti-corruption body in February pledged to eliminate notions of a “financial elite” and “parity with the West” as well as hedonism and the excessive pursuit of money and “high-end tastes”.