The 27 percent of the urban labor force that was employed in collectively owned enterprises earned less on average than workers in state-owned units.[1] The income of workers in collectively owned enterprises consisted of a share of the profit earned by the enterprise.[1] Most such enterprises were small, had little capital, and did not earn large profits.[1] Many were engaged in traditional services, handicrafts, or small-scale, part-time assembly work.[1] In 1985 workers in urban collective units earned an average annual income of ¥968.[1] In the more open commercial environment of the 1980s, a small but significant number of people earned incomes much larger than those in regular state-owned and collectively owned units.[1] Employees of enterprises run by overseas Chinese, for instance, earned an average of ¥2,437 in 1985, over twice the average income of workers in state-owned units.[1]