PEOPLE working in the information technology industry earned more than employees in all other industries on average last year, according to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

They were followed by workers in the financial, electric power, gas and water, real estate and scientific research sectors, the bureau said.

The wage gap between different sectors widened last year. The average wage in the IT sector was 3.55 times of the average salargy for those in the service sector, the lowest paid group of workers, while in 2000, the average wage in the highest sector was 3.24 times that of the lowest.

From 2000 to 2006, wages for the manufacturing industry grew 13.3 percent annually, and wages for the service sector grew 14.6 percent, the bureau said.

Wages for the information industry grew 14.2 percent annually while wages for community service and other services grew 8.6 percent.

Local employees earned 29,569 yuan (US$3,937) on average last year, up 10.2 percent from a year earlier.

The city's average salary has grown at an annual rate of 10 percent in recent years, with yearly income reaching 26,820 yuan in 2005 and 24,396 yuan in 2004, the report said.