Related News
Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Low-income people caught in 'scissors gap'
By Cheng Zhiliang and Liu Lu |
March 1, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINESE Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday tackled the country's yawning wealth gap, comparing economic development to a cake that had to be bigger and more fairly divided.
"Ensuring fair income distribution will be an important task of the government in the next five years," Wen said during an on-line chat with the public, the third of its kind since 2009, prior to the national parliamentary session this month.
"Income distribution has a direct bearing on social justice and fairness as well as stability," he said.
Despite remarkable economic progress, China has several social problems, including a widening wealth gap and slow increase in incomes. The situation has resulted in social conflict in some areas.
According to a World Bank report, the Gini Coefficient for China surged to 0.47 in 2009, pointing to an unequal distribution of income that could lead to social unrest.
"Will the government push forward the reform in income distribution in 2011? Will the ordinary people see actual effects?" a netizen called Pandenggaofeng asked Wen on Sunday. "As I have always said, we shall not only make the cake bigger, but also divide it fairly, so that everyone can enjoy the fruits of reform and opening up. We will strive for it," Wen replied.
While Wen made the pledge in downtown Beijing, Lin Derong, a 35-year-old farmer on the outskirts of Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was still uncertain about paying his social insurance premiums.
"I want to pay, but it costs 1,000 yuan (US$152) every year, which is too much for me," Lin said. "I hope for more favorable insurance conditions and lower premiums."
Lin said he hoped to see social insurance discussed at the upcoming annual parliamentary and political advisory sessions, often called the "two sessions" in China. He also wanted national legislators and political advisers to focus more on living standards at their sessions.
The country's development plan for the next five years is expected to be endorsed at the two sessions. According to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's proposed plan, the government will try to make incomes rise in line with economic development, and wage increases keep pace with improvements in productivity.
The proposal indicated a shift in focus to social fairness from the efficiency-oriented development mode launched in the reform and opening-up drive in 1978, say commentators.
A chart drawn up by Chang Xiuze, a researcher at the Macroeconomics Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, shows that in the past three decades, China's GDP rises significantly while income growth falls far behind, forming an obvious scissor-like gap.
"We can see from the chart that incomes have not increased with the growth of GDP, which will affect China's economy and stimulate social conflict," said Chang.
Official statistics show that at the beginning of China's reform and opening, incomes accounted for more than half of the primary distribution of national income, but they presently comprise less than 40 percent.
During Sunday's online chat, Wen said the government would tackle the income distribution problem from three aspects:
- Increasing the salaries of low-income groups and minimum living allowances;
- Containing salaries in industries with higher incomes;
- Protecting lawful incomes, cracking down on illegal incomes and regulating excessively high incomes.
The government has begun to rebuild its medical and social insurance systems in urban and rural areas and has increased minimum wages in 30 provinces and autonomous regions in moves to divide the cake more fairly.
Sichuan Province devoted 60 percent of its government budget to improving living standards last year. The allocation will increase by 11.7 percent to 84 billion yuan this year.
The provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang have pledged to give priority to living standards and other provinces have plan to double minimum wages in the next five years in moves heralding the five-year development plan.
Yang Qingyu, a national legislator and economic planning official of Chongqing, said income disparity was most prominent between urban and rural residents, and the pressing task was the reallocation of incomes.
Yang said Chongqing would mainly focus on increasing incomes in rural areas and improving minimum standards of living in the next five years. He said he and national lawmakers would discuss measures to ensure that incomes keep pace with economic development, and wages keep pace with improvements in productivity.
"Ensuring fair income distribution will be an important task of the government in the next five years," Wen said during an on-line chat with the public, the third of its kind since 2009, prior to the national parliamentary session this month.
"Income distribution has a direct bearing on social justice and fairness as well as stability," he said.
Despite remarkable economic progress, China has several social problems, including a widening wealth gap and slow increase in incomes. The situation has resulted in social conflict in some areas.
According to a World Bank report, the Gini Coefficient for China surged to 0.47 in 2009, pointing to an unequal distribution of income that could lead to social unrest.
"Will the government push forward the reform in income distribution in 2011? Will the ordinary people see actual effects?" a netizen called Pandenggaofeng asked Wen on Sunday. "As I have always said, we shall not only make the cake bigger, but also divide it fairly, so that everyone can enjoy the fruits of reform and opening up. We will strive for it," Wen replied.
While Wen made the pledge in downtown Beijing, Lin Derong, a 35-year-old farmer on the outskirts of Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, was still uncertain about paying his social insurance premiums.
"I want to pay, but it costs 1,000 yuan (US$152) every year, which is too much for me," Lin said. "I hope for more favorable insurance conditions and lower premiums."
Lin said he hoped to see social insurance discussed at the upcoming annual parliamentary and political advisory sessions, often called the "two sessions" in China. He also wanted national legislators and political advisers to focus more on living standards at their sessions.
The country's development plan for the next five years is expected to be endorsed at the two sessions. According to the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's proposed plan, the government will try to make incomes rise in line with economic development, and wage increases keep pace with improvements in productivity.
The proposal indicated a shift in focus to social fairness from the efficiency-oriented development mode launched in the reform and opening-up drive in 1978, say commentators.
A chart drawn up by Chang Xiuze, a researcher at the Macroeconomics Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, shows that in the past three decades, China's GDP rises significantly while income growth falls far behind, forming an obvious scissor-like gap.
"We can see from the chart that incomes have not increased with the growth of GDP, which will affect China's economy and stimulate social conflict," said Chang.
Official statistics show that at the beginning of China's reform and opening, incomes accounted for more than half of the primary distribution of national income, but they presently comprise less than 40 percent.
During Sunday's online chat, Wen said the government would tackle the income distribution problem from three aspects:
- Increasing the salaries of low-income groups and minimum living allowances;
- Containing salaries in industries with higher incomes;
- Protecting lawful incomes, cracking down on illegal incomes and regulating excessively high incomes.
The government has begun to rebuild its medical and social insurance systems in urban and rural areas and has increased minimum wages in 30 provinces and autonomous regions in moves to divide the cake more fairly.
Sichuan Province devoted 60 percent of its government budget to improving living standards last year. The allocation will increase by 11.7 percent to 84 billion yuan this year.
The provinces of Shandong and Zhejiang have pledged to give priority to living standards and other provinces have plan to double minimum wages in the next five years in moves heralding the five-year development plan.
Yang Qingyu, a national legislator and economic planning official of Chongqing, said income disparity was most prominent between urban and rural residents, and the pressing task was the reallocation of incomes.
Yang said Chongqing would mainly focus on increasing incomes in rural areas and improving minimum standards of living in the next five years. He said he and national lawmakers would discuss measures to ensure that incomes keep pace with economic development, and wages keep pace with improvements in productivity.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
