Country fileCNCNYVerified 2026-09-20
CN
Employer of Record in China: what one employee really costs
China, Asia. One software engineer at $45,000 gross per year, priced through 12 providers with a published fee, on the ECB reference rates of 18 Sept 2026. Change the salary and headcount below.
- Employer on-cost
- +32.9%
- statutory charges on top of gross
- All-in per month
- $5,183 – $5,683
- salary + charges + published fee, cheapest to dearest listed provider
- Onboarding through an EOR
- 7 days
- per Deel - Hire employees in China ('your next hire could start in as little as 7 days')
Hiring one software engineer in China at $45,000 gross a year costs about $1,234 a month in statutory employer charges (+32.9%), plus an EOR fee of $199 to $699 per month depending on the provider: $5,183 to $5,683 all-in, before deposits, FX margins and add-ons. Prices checked 2–24 Sept 2026.
Disclosure Some provider links on this page are affiliate links: if you become a customer after clicking, the provider may pay us a referral fee. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes the numbers on this page, which come from official sources and are dated. How we are paid
Cost engine · preset to China
Price your own hire, line by line.
employee inatgross / year
≈ CNY 301,394 gross / year · CNY at ECB reference rate, 18 Sept 2026
| Per employee | Rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $3,750 | |
| Basic pension insurance (yanglao baoxian), Shanghai | 16% | $600 |
| Medical insurance including maternity (yiliao baoxian), Shanghai | 9% | $338 |
| Unemployment insurance (shiye baoxian), Shanghai | 0.50% | $19 |
| Work-injury insurance (gongshang baoxian), industry band 2 | 0.40% | $15 |
| Housing provident fund (zhufang gongjijin), Shanghai, at 7% | 7.00% | $263 |
| Employer on-cost | +32.9% | $1,234 |
| Cost of employment, before EOR fee | $4,984 |
RemoFirstLowest total
$5,183/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $199
- Per year
- $62,193
- Fee share
- 3.8%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a RemoFirst quotePapaya Global
$5,483/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $499
- Per year
- $65,793
- Fee share
- 9.1%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Papaya quoteDeel
$5,583/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $599
- Per year
- $66,993
- Fee share
- 10.7%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Deel quoteEmployer charges from official sources; provider fees are list prices on the dates shown; deposits, FX margins and add-ons are not included. Not legal or tax advice. Methodology
14 providers, one scenario, all-in totals.
| Provider | EOR fee / employee / mo | All-in / mo, 1 hire | Deposit | Countries | Checked | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemoFirst EOR in 185+ countries from $199 per employee per month, no annual contract. | from $199 | $5,183 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from RemoFirst· $5,183/mo |
| Rivermate EOR in 180+ countries from $319 to $639 per employee per month. | from $319 | $5,303 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rivermate· $5,303/mo |
| Pebl Velocity Global, renamed Pebl in 2026. Prints $399 per employee per month. | from $399 | $5,383 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 22 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Pebl· $5,383/mo |
| Playroll EOR in 180+ countries from $399 per employee per month; deposit of one month's salary. | from $399 | $5,383 | Fully refundable security deposit equivalent to one month's salary when onboarding an employee (pricing page). | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Playroll· $5,383/mo |
| Multiplier EOR from $459 (annual) or $499 (monthly) per employee, plus mandated add-ons. | from $499 $459 billed annually | $5,483 | Refundable security deposit required per employee by the EOR terms (effective 1 June 2026), sized by Multiplier; not on the pricing page. | 150+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Multiplier· $5,483/mo |
| Papaya Global EOR starting from $499 per employee per month, quote-based, 160+ countries. | from $499 | $5,483 | Not stated for EOR on the pricing page (the contractor block states 'No deposit required'). | 160+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Papaya Global· $5,483/mo |
| Borderless AI EOR at $579 per employee per month, no deposit or pre-funding, 170+ countries. | $579 | $5,563 | No deposit: 'No upfront deposits or pre-funding required' (pricing page). | 170+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Borderless AI· $5,563/mo |
| Atlas HXM EOR from $599 through its own entities, plus an Agent of Record at $199. | from $599 | $5,583 | Not stated on the pricing page | 160+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Atlas HXM· $5,583/mo |
| Deel EOR in 130+ countries, starting at $599 per employee per month. | from $599 | $5,583 | Not stated on the pricing page | 130+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Deel· $5,583/mo |
| G-P EOR in 180+ countries from $599, with no minimum contract length. | from $599 | $5,583 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from G-P· $5,583/mo |
| Oyster EOR in 120+ countries at USD 699 per employee per month; refundable deposit. | $699 | $5,683 | Refundable deposit required for EOR team members 'to initiate the engagement and to ensure on-time payments' (pricing FAQ). | 120+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Oyster· $5,683/mo |
| Remote EOR in 90+ countries at $699 per employee per month, no deposit. | $699 | $5,683 | No deposit: 'We collect reserve payments in rare, high risk circumstances' (pricing FAQ). | 90+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Remote· $5,683/mo |
| Rippling EOR bundled with the Rippling platform; custom quote only. | Quote only | — | Not stated on the pricing page | — | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rippling |
| Safeguard Global EOR sold alongside entity setup and payroll; no price published. | Quote only | — | Not stated | 187+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Safeguard Global |
Same salary and statutory charges in every row; only the fee segment changes.
What China adds on top of the salary, and where each rate comes from.
Rates apply to the base named in each line; capped lines stop growing above the ceiling. Engine assumptions: Employee registered in Shanghai (Chinese contribution rates and bands are set city by city, not nationally) = 1; Work-injury insurance at band 2 = 0.4% (the band Shanghai assigns to labour-dispatch entities and business services) = 0.4; Housing fund at 7%, the top of the 5% to 7% band the employer chooses = 7.
| Line | Employer rate | Base & ceiling | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic pension insurance (yanglao baoxian), ShanghaiEvery urban employee in Shanghai; the base is the real salary between the monthly floor of CNY 7,546 and the monthly cap of CNY 37,731 in force from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 | 16% | Gross salary , capped at CNY 452,772 / yr, floor CNY 90,552 / yr The Shanghai human resources and social security bureau states the employer schedule in one sentence: pension 16%, medical 9% including maternity, unemployment 0.5%, work injury base rate 0.2% to 1.9%. The 16% is the national policy ceiling, set by the 2019 State Council reform that ordered every province above 16% down to that level. The band is published separately, and this is the line to re-read every summer: the bureau's notice of 18 August 2026 sets the ceiling at CNY 37,731 a month and the floor at CNY 7,546 with effect from 1 July 2026, on a 2025 city-wide average wage of CNY 12,577 a month (rsj.sh.gov.cn/tgsgg_17341/20260818/t0035_1443203.html, read 20 September 2026). Shanghai's social-insurance year turns on 1 July, not 1 January. | Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau2026-09-20 |
| Medical insurance including maternity (yiliao baoxian), ShanghaiEvery urban employee in Shanghai, on the same band as pension | 9% | Gross salary , capped at CNY 452,772 / yr, floor CNY 90,552 / yr 9% in Shanghai with maternity insurance merged into it rather than charged separately, per the bureau's own wording: 'medical insurance 9% (maternity included)'. This is the line that varies most between Chinese cities, which is why provider pages quote a range of 6.4% to 10% for the country as a whole and list maternity separately, and why a single national figure would be wrong. Same 2026-27 band as pension, published in the bureau notice of 18 August 2026. | Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau2026-09-20 |
| Unemployment insurance (shiye baoxian), ShanghaiEvery urban employee in Shanghai, on the same band as pension | 0.50% | Gross salary , capped at CNY 452,772 / yr, floor CNY 90,552 / yr 0.5% from the employer, matched by 0.5% from the employee, on the same 2026-27 band as pension and medical. | Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau2026-09-20 |
| Work-injury insurance (gongshang baoxian), industry band 2Employer-only charge, rate set by the industry risk band of the employing entity: 0.2% for band 1 up to 1.9% for band 8, with labour-dispatch entities placed in band 2 at 0.4% | 0.40% | Gross salary , capped at CNY 452,772 / yr, floor CNY 90,552 / yr Read in the joint Shanghai notice in force from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2030 and in its annex, the industry benchmark rate table. The notice adopts the national eight-band schedule, 0.2, 0.4, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1, 1.3, 1.6 and 1.9 per cent, lets the social insurance agency place each employer in a band from its registration and main business, and classifies labour-dispatch entities uniformly in band 2. The annex puts software and IT services, monetary and capital-market services and insurance in band 1 at 0.2%, and wholesale, retail, internet services, business services, research and development and professional technical services in band 2 at 0.4%. The line is modelled at band 2, because an employer of record in China usually employs through a dispatch or business-services entity, and the notice places both there; a hire employed by an entity registered in software and IT services would pay 0.2% instead. The notice states no separate contribution base for this line, so it is modelled on the same base as the other three insurances, which is standard Chinese practice. | Shanghai notice on work-injury insurance rates (Hu Ren She Gui 2026 No. 2), in force 2026-2030, with its annex, the industry benchmark rate table2026-09-24 |
| Housing provident fund (zhufang gongjijin), Shanghai, at 7%Every employee in Shanghai; the employer picks a whole-number rate from 5% to 7% and the employee matches it. The base shares the CNY 37,731 monthly cap but has its own lower floor of CNY 2,740 | 7.00% | Gross salary , capped at CNY 452,772 / yr, floor CNY 32,880 / yr Read in the notice of the Shanghai Housing Provident Fund Management Committee (Hu Gongjijin Guanweihui 2026 No. 3, dated 18 August 2026, marked valid) on the fund's own site. From 1 July 2026 the base moves to the employee's 2025 average monthly wage, capped at CNY 37,731 and floored at CNY 2,740; employer and employee each pay a whole-number rate from 5% to 7% chosen by the employer, which puts the monthly employer amount at 7% between CNY 192 and CNY 2,641 (the notice publishes the combined two-sided figure, CNY 384 to CNY 5,282). A supplementary fund of 1% to 5% each side is voluntary and is not modelled. Deel independently publishes 7% for China. Unlike the four insurances this is a named savings account the employee draws on for housing, not a pure charge, but it leaves the employer's bank account all the same. The fund's domain does not resolve through public resolvers outside China; it answered once resolved through a Chinese one. | Shanghai Housing Provident Fund Management Committee, notice Hu Gongjijin Guanweihui 2026 No. 3 on the 2026 contribution base, rates and monthly limits2026-09-24 |
| Thirteenth month or year-end bonus (nianzhongjiang) - customary, not statutory not in total | — | Carried at zero because no Chinese statute requires it. The Employment Contract Law only obliges the employer to pay remuneration in full and on time as agreed in the contract and as the state provides; it contains no thirteenth-month clause, and reading the whole text confirms it. In practice a year-end bonus around one month of salary is close to standard in Shanghai and a competitive offer usually has to carry one, so budget it as a market cost rather than a legal charge. | Employment Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, art. 30 (full text on the State Administration for Market Regulation site)2026-09-20 |
| Disabled employment security fund - assessed on the company, not the payslip not in total | — | Read in the Shanghai implementing measures on the disabled employment security fund (Hu Cai Fa 2020 No. 9), extended to 31 December 2030 by Hu Cai Fa 2025 No. 11, and in the Shanghai tax bureau's guide for the 2025 levy, collected from 19 August 2026. It is not a per-payslip contribution like the five insurances: it is an annual levy on an employer that falls short of the 1.5% quota for employing people with disabilities. The levy is (1.5% minus the employer's disabled-staff ratio) times the sum of its prior-year social insurance contribution bases, times 50% if that ratio is at least 1% and 90% if it is below 1%; each wage counts up to twice the Shanghai average wage (CNY 24,868 a month for the second half of 2025). An employer with no disabled staff therefore pays 1.35% of that capped base, and companies with 30 employees or fewer are exempt. Deel's China page quotes a disability fund of 0.50% to 1.60%. The levy falls on the employing entity, so on an EOR hire it is the provider's charge and depends on its whole Shanghai headcount; it is carried at zero here and named because it is part of why a provider's China figure lands above the sum of the five insurances. | Shanghai implementing measures on the disabled employment security fund (Hu Cai Fa 2020 No. 9), art. 8 and art. 16, extended to 2030 by Hu Cai Fa 2025 No. 112026-09-24 |
| Employer on-cost at $45,000 | +32.9% | $14,805 a year, $1,234 a month |
EOR or your own entity
Fees scale with headcount. An entity does not.
In China, hiring without a local entity is not a cost trade-off: it is legally impossible. Article 2 of the Employment Contract Law defines the employing unit as an enterprise or organisation located inside the territory of the People's Republic of China, so only an entity registered in mainland China can be a party to a Chinese employment contract. A foreign company with no local presence therefore has three options and only three: an employer of record, its own subsidiary such as a WFOE, or a contractor arrangement that is not employment. Against that, the provider fee buys a hire in about seven days rather than the months a WFOE takes to register, capitalise and bank. The crossover is unusually late in China because the entity route carries permanent local administration, and because contribution rates and bands change city by city and turn over every 1 July, which is ongoing work somebody has to own.
Fees grow with every hire; the charges line is owed under an entity too.
| Headcount | RemoFirst fees / yr | Borderless AI fees / yr | Statutory charges / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,388 | $6,948 | $14,805 |
| 3 | $7,164 | $20,844 | $44,415 |
| 5 | $11,940 | $34,740 | $74,025 |
| 10 | $23,880 | $69,480 | $148,050 |
| 20 | $47,760 | $138,960 | $296,100 |
Statutory charges are owed either way; the provider fee is the only line an entity removes, against the cost of incorporating and running local payroll.
Employment terms that move the cost
- Paid leave
- 5 days
- Public holidays
- 13
- 13th month
- Not mandatory
- Probation
- up to 6 months
- Notice
- Thirty days' written notice, or one extra month's salary in place of it, for a no-fault dismissal under article 40 of the Employment Contract Law. An employee resigning also gives thirty days, or three during probation.
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-20
Get a quote for China.
The lowest published total here, next to the two providers searched for most often (the rule). Totals for 1 hire at $45,000. Ask each provider about deposits, FX margins and mandatory add-ons for China: those are the lines that move.
Get a RemoFirst quote· $5,183/mo Get a Papaya quote· $5,483/mo Get a Deel quote· $5,583/mo
Disclosure Some provider links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers on this page. Details
Questions people ask before booking a demo
- How much does an employer of record cost in China?
- For a Shanghai hire, statutory employer charges come to 32.9% of salary: pension 16%, medical including maternity 9%, unemployment 0.5%, work injury 0.4% and the housing fund at 7%. On a US$45,000 salary that is roughly US$1,230 a month on top of salary. Published EOR fees then run from about $199 to $699 per employee per month, so the all-in cost lands near $5,200 to $5,700 a month depending on the provider.
- Is there one employer contribution rate for all of China?
- No, and any page quoting a single Chinese rate is wrong. Rates, floors and caps are set city by city. Deel's own figures show the range on identical pay: 34.32% in Shanghai, 35.08% in Shenzhen, 39.10% in Nanjing, 40.20% in Beijing, 41% in Tianjin. This page prices Shanghai, which is where providers position their China examples, and the city your provider registers the hire in is the first thing to pin down in a quote.
- Does the Chinese employer cost keep rising with salary?
- No, it falls as a percentage. Every Shanghai contribution stops at a monthly base of CNY 37,731, roughly $67,600 a year, so above that the charges are frozen in absolute terms while salary keeps climbing. A senior hire in China therefore carries a lower effective on-cost than a junior one, the opposite of the United Kingdom or Brazil where the employer charge has no ceiling. Set the salary above the cap in the calculator to see the curve.
- Why does a provider quote more than 32.9% for Shanghai?
- Because a provider's percentage is not only statutory contributions. Deel's 34.32% for Shanghai sits alongside its own list of employer costs, which includes a 0.60% liability administration fee, maternity shown as a separate 1% line and a disability fund of 0.50% to 1.60% — an annual company-level levy, not a payroll rate. We have not reconciled its figure line by line and do not claim to. Ask for any quote broken into statutory contributions, the provider's own administrative charges and optional benefits, then compare the first block against the ledger above.
- How much paid leave and how many holidays does a Chinese employee get?
- Statutory annual leave is short and tied to career length: five days for one to ten years of cumulative service, ten days from ten years, fifteen from twenty. On top of that sit 13 public holidays, up from 11 since 1 January 2025. The published 2026 calendar shows 33 days off, but that figure is built by shifting weekends through the make-up working day system, so 13 is the honest number for an international comparison.