The employed in urban areas saw their annual salaries increase in 2022, and those in positions requiring higher technical skills and knowledge earned the top salaries, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

The figures are based on research and surveys of over 1.38 million companies with annual sales revenue above 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) and 721,000 businesses under this revenue standard.

Positions requiring skills such as information transmission and software, finance and scientific research and technical services offered the highest average annual pay, according to the NBS.

For example, employees at the larger companies working for information transmission and software services earned 213,089 yuan on average last year, which is more than twice those serving in the education industry and three times workers in the construction sector.

Wang Pingping, director of the NBS's population and employment census department, said that the higher salaries are due to growing demand for the internet in learning, working, socializing and online shopping. The increase for financial workers lies in the industry's restructuring and downsizing for higher efficiency last year.

Though the average annual salary rose, it varied depending on company size and geographical location.

According to the NBS, employees at companies with annual sales revenue above 20 million yuan saw their average annual salary reach 92,492 yuan last year, a 5-percent rise from the previous year.

People working for non-private companies and organizations in urban areas earned an average of 114,029 yuan last year, a year-on-year rise of 6.7 percent.

Those in private companies in urban areas had their average annual salary increase by 3.7 percent year-on-year to 65,237 yuan.

Employees working for urban private companies in the nation's eastern region including the city of Shanghai, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces earned an average salary of 72,965 yuan last year, a year-on-year rise of 4.7 percent, while those in northeast provinces such as Jilin and Heilongjiang had average salaries of 49,895 yuan.

Wang said that the increase was affected by factors such as the nation's policies or economic changes, as well as company restructurings.