From 1978 to 2007, China’s total use of foreign investment exceeded 760 billion U.S. dollars, the largest amount among developing countries and the second largest worldwide, said Du at a national economic conference recently.

In 2007 alone, China’s foreign direct investment reached 83.5 billion U.S. dollars and outbound investment stood at 18.7 billion U.S. dollars, both soaring from less than 20 million U.S. dollars in 1978 when the country initiated the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world.

Meanwhile, the country’s foreign trade also experienced a rapid growth, from 20.6 billion U.S. dollars in 1978 to 2.17 trillion U.S. dollars last year.

“By using both the markets and resources from home and abroad, China has improved its international competitiveness remarkably,” he said.

Issued every five years, the report said there were a total of 119,876 expatriates living in the city in 2006, compared to 61,610 in 2002. The number of expats working in foreign-invested companies in the city increased from 40,076 to 76,873 over the same period.

The report found local workers’ average salary increased 11 percent annually between 2002 and 2006. The annual wage of local workers on average reached 29,569 yuan (US$4,224) in 2006.

But the report also said the average monthly salary had gone up 9.1 percent between 2006 and April last year to 2,687 yuan.

The number of local workers who were paid less than 2,000 yuan every month decreased from 83.2 percent to 58.1 percent between 2002 and 2006.

The report said the number of workers in the service industry increased four-fold over the past five years, the number in the financial industry increased 65 percent, and the number of real estate industry professionals rose 36 percent from 2002 to 2006.

Those working in state-owned enterprises dropped by 31.7 percent, while the number of staff in foreign-invested companies and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan enterprises increased 25.6 percent. The survey covered nearly 4,000 local employees.

The city’s 2007 GDP per capita stood at US$8,594 in the local calculation method, said Pan Jianxin, director of Shanghai Bureau of Statistics. And in accordance with the international standards, the figure would hit US$8,949, said Pan.

The growth rate was 1.3 percentage points higher than in 2006. As for comparison, the city’s consumer price index – a main gauge of inflation, jumped 3.2 percent in 2007, powered by food prices — climbed 9.4 percent last year.

The fast growth in the service sector which accounts for 51.9% of Shanghai’s GDP is the main pushing power for the city’s development last year. And steel production, petrochemical industry and Olympic-related projects will further boost Shanghai’s economy this year.

Fixed asset investments, a main measure of spending on roads, factories and other large investment projects, were also a major contributor, making up 445 billion yuan.

Inflation of 3.2 percent remained well under the national average of 4.8 percent, despite leaping prices in food items, as in much of the country.

The bureau’s consumer inflation calculations do not include real estate, which has been roaring ahead for years at double digits, although many are now predicting a slump in sales amid tighter credit conditions.

“We should tackle inflationary pressure and try to reduce pollution and the consumption of energy,” said Pan Jianxin.

The report, released by leading human-resources service provider Zhaopin.com in Shanghai, was based on a survey of more than 1,000 companies across all sectors throughout the country last year.

It found workers in the financial industry were paid an average salary of 4,987 yuan (US$694) per month. The figure is about 40 percent higher than the national average.

“The stock market in the Chinese mainland had undergone deeper reform and it remained hot last year. That contributed to the salary rises in the financial sector,” said Liu Hao, Zhaopin’s CEO.

Liu said it was not unusual to see fund managers and analysts earning more than one million yuan a year.

The high-tech sector ranked second on the list. Average income in the information technology industry also reached 4,282 yuan (around 600 US dollars) por month last year, the report said. As comparison, the average salary of a software engineer in San Francisco — California — goes around 9700 US dollars a month.

“Leading enterprises like electronic commerce and the online gaming industry drove the whole industry towards fast growth,” Liu said, adding that more than half of the enterprises used long-term incentive salary policies.

Third on the list was the real-estate industry, where salaries jumped by 15 percent on average to 4,051 yuan (around 570 US dollars) per month last year.

Zhaopin analysts said that industry growth in second-tier cities such as Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang, Changsha and Wuhan largely contributed to the rise in average wages.

Also high on the earnings list were employees in the media and public relations, motoring, consumer goods, medicine, energy, and the chemical and manufacturing industries.

The report also revealed that new college graduates were paid 2,169 yuan (around 300 US dollars) per month on average in major Chinese cities. Masters degree graduates were paid on average 2,853 yuan (a little over 400 US dollars) per month and PhD graduates earned 3,878 (around 540 US dollars) yuan por month.