Watchdog orders probe as income gap widens

China's Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has launched a probe into the salaries of employees at state-owned enterprises (SOEs). According to a notice posted Monday at the commission's website, the probe will focus on average incomes and raises between 2004 and 2006 among employees of municipal, provincial and central SOEs. The commission has also ordered a report comparing SOE employees' salaries and local averages, state media reported. The report will look at how raises are doled out at SOEs and will seek to create a standard salary increase mechanism for all SOE employees. A widening income gap between different industries and regions has drawn strong criticism across the country where the Gini coefficient, which measures inequality, stands at 0.46, above the international standard of 0.45. Salaries for SOE employees have surpassed those in other sectors for the last decade and a half. In 2003, SOE employees were the highest earners in the country.