ban on noncompete agreements for workers paid by the hour "increased hourly wages by 2%–3% on average." The study also showed that the Oregon ban on noncompete agreements for low-wage workers "improved average occupational status in Oregon, raised job-to-job mobility, and increased the proportion of salaried workers without affecting hours worked." By country Belgium In Belgium, CNCs are restricted to new employments within Belgium and for no more than one year. The employer must pay financial compensation for the duration of the CNC, amounting at least half of the gross salary for the corresponding period. Canada Canadian courts will enforce non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, however, the agreement must be limited in time frame, business scope, and geographic scope to what is reasonably required to protect the company's proprietary rights, such as confidential marketing information or client relations and the scope of the agreement must be unambiguously defined. The 2009 Supreme Court of Canada case Shafron v. KRG Insurance Brokers (Western) Inc. 2009 SCC 6, held a non-compete agreement to be invalid due to the term "Metropolitan City of Vancouver" not being legally defined. The 2000 Ontario Court of Appeals case Lyons v. Multary established a general preference towards non-solicitation over non-competition agreements, regarding the latter as "much more drastic weapons" and held a non-competition agreement to be invalid when a non-solicitation agreement would have been sufficient to protect the company's interests. China Applicable personnel For an employee who has the obligation to protect the employer's confidentiality and trade secrets, the employer and the employee may agree on the inclusion of non-competition clauses in the employment contract or a separate non-disclosure agreement. In the event that the employment contract has been terminated or has expired, during the agreed non-competition period, the employer shall pay compensation to the employee on a monthly basis. If the employee breaches the non-competition agreement, he/she shall pay damages to the employer as agreed. The personnel subject to non-competition agreement shall be limited to the employer's senior management, senior technicians and other personnel with a confidentiality obligation. The scope, area and term of the non-competition agreement shall be agreed by both the employer and the employee, and such agreement must not violate the laws and regulations. Rights and obligations Upon termination or expiration of the employment contract, the term of non-competition for any of the persons as mentioned in the preceding clause to work in any other