Salaries grew slower and pay disparities between various industries rose last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

Salary increases for urban employees were down 1.5 percentage points in 2008, with average salary before tax at 29,229 yuan ($4,280). The survey did not cover private enterprises or individual businesses.

"The salary growth is relatively high given the backdrop of a global economic slowdown," said Su Hainan, director of the wage committee of the China Association of Labor Studies.