IT jobs get the big bucks in China

China may be lagging behind other countries in Internet penetration, but as with more developed nations, technology is still a choice career.

The State Statistics Bureau (SSB) conducted a survey on income, which found that technology and management professional form the bulk of China's high-income group. They are also the fastest-rising wage earners.

The high-income bracket is modestly defined as 32,000 yuan (S$3,870) a year. However, the techies in China earn way in access of this, often making hundreds of thousands, or even millions of yuan, The Straits Times said.

Technology and management professionals enjoy an average monthly net income of 5,467 yuan (S$661) a month, with technopreneurs getting more than 10,000 yuan (S$1,210) monthly.

Last year, Zhongguancun, a technology hub in Beijing which is China's "Silicon Valley", created more than 1,000 new millionaires. This equals the the total for the previous five years, and is additional proof of how monetary rewards in high technology are moving at Internet speed in the country.

At the bottom of the wage scale are the proletariat, who were once respected in the Communist State--where economic parity is rapidly going out the window.

According to the survey, the richest 20 percent of the population now commands 50 percent of the total national income, while the bottom 20 percent earn just 4 percent of the total.