Shanghai residents' salaries rose by 7.7% on average in 2006, ranking at the top of all Chinese cities in terms of salary growth. Guangzhou followed closely with an average salary increase of 7.6%, while Beijing came in third with an average raise of 7.2%.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting, one of the world's leading consulting companies, recently released the results of their survey on urban resident's salaries in 2006.

The survey also found the growth of workers salaries is expected to reach 7.7% this year.

In Shanghai, auto industry workers' salaries rose by an average of 8.3%, while high-tech industry workers'salaries increased by 7.3%.

Across the nation, the highest salary rises were recorded in the petrochemicals and IT industries, where earnings rose by an average of 8.3%.

The survey covers 1800 well-known enterprises in thirteen cities, including companies operating in the IT, high-tech, pharmaceutics, manufacturing, retail, auto and financial sectors.