BEIJING - The annual average growth of China's minimum wages should be at least 13 percent in the five years to 2015, according to a government job market plan for the period published on Wednesday.

Raising pay is key to the jobs blueprint, part of Beijing's 12th Five-Year Economic Plan, which aims to boost employment in the world's No 2 economy.

Minimum wages in China range from 1,500 yuan ($240) per month in Shenzhen to 870 yuan in Chongqing. The government wants minimum wages to be 40 percent of average local salaries by 2015, according to the plan posted on its website (www.gov.cn).

The average monthly wage of China's 158 million migrant workers in 2011 surged 21.2 percent from 2010 to 2,049 yuan.

In the five-year period from 2006 to 2010, the average minimum wage in China increased 12.5 percent per year, official data showed.