The minimum wage in Shenzhen City in south China's Guangdong Province will increase by ten percent to 1,100 yuan per month ($161.04) in July from 1,000 yuan, municipal authorities said Wednesday.

Part-time employees will see their hourly wage grow to 9.8 yuan, said Wang Min, head of the city's Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

"The pay rise will increase costs for labor-intensive companies but I hope those companies will take this as an opportunity to speed up their technological innovation and industrial upgrading to boost their competitiveness," said Wang.

Shenzhen's move comes after a series of pay rises in China.

Beijing will increase its minimum wage by 20 percent to 960 yuan per month from 800 yuan from July 1.

The most dramatic rise has been at Foxconn, an IT contract manufacturer which will raise salaries for assembly workers at its production base in Shenzhen by 66 percent to 2,000 yuan per month from October 1.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2010)