BEIJING, Dec. 15 -- An average pay rise of 8.8 percent is expected for company employees in China next year, according to a survey released on Sunday by 51job.com, China's leading jobs website.

Some 17.3 percent of the surveyed companies plan to increase pay for their staff at least once next year, a slight dip compared with the figure in 2013, the survey revealed, adding that 74.9 percent chose to increase pay only once in 2014.

The financial industry will lead other industries with a 10.4-percent pay rise in the year, followed by the real-estate, high-technology and bio-pharmaceutical industries, the survey added.

More industries will benefit from the decision on "comprehensively deepening reform," which was announced after a plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in November, according to the report.

It also showed salaries of companies based in the country's first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will increase by 8.6 percent year on year, and those in other cities will see a 9-percent rise.