The financial industry has beaten all rivals again to top salary rankings for 2009 with average earnings hitting 70,265 yuan ($10,614), the Legal Evening News said citing a report released on Dec 28.

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Liu Yuanchun, associate dean of the Economics School at Renmin University of China, said at the release of the China Development Index that the growth of the financial industry's average annual salary far outpaced China's GDP growth rate during 2003 and 2009.

The reason was because the industry is monopolistic and capital-intensive, Liu said.

In 2006, the annual average salary for the financial industry was 39,280 yuan, compared with 44,763 yuan for the IT industry which had previously been the No 1 in wage rankings.

The IT industry was No 2 in this year's ranking with an average salary of 59,919 yuan. The industry of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery was at the bottom with 14,911 yuan.