Between 2005 and 2016, average wages paid to Chinese industrial workers trebled to around 3 euros and 40 cents.

But according to the Financial Times, workers in Portugal have seen their pay packets shrink and are now earning 4 euros and 25 cents, as opposed to 5 euros and 90 cents immediately before the global economic crisis.

The wages in China have also moved above those being paid in Brazil and Mexico, and are at around 70 percent of the weaker eurozone countries like Portugal and Greece.