China's growing income gap
is likely to trigger social instability after 2010 if the government
finds no effective solutions to end the disparity.
An expert team at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security recently
delivered the warning in a newly designed system detailing the populous
country's statistics for income
distribution.
Calling upon the government to keep alert over growing income
disparities, the team found that the income gap in China has been
expanding since 2003, despite some measures in place to increase income
among those in poverty.
The team, headed by Su Hainan, president of the ministry's Income
Research Institute, has used "blue-, green-, yellow- and
red-lights" to predict income disparity trends. The yellow light
warns the government to be alert and the red one means the disparity is
totally unacceptable.
"Income disparity
in China is in the yellow-light area now," the team warned.
"We are going to hit the red-light scenario after 2010 if there are
no effective solutions in the next few years.
Su's team found little reason to be optimistic about bridging
the urban-rural income gap. Incomes in cities are growing at 8-9 per
cent annually, while the rate in rural regions has averaged a
year-on-year growth of 4-5 per cent.
The National Bureau of Statistics forecasted over the weekend that
per capita urban income this year is likely to surpass 10,000 yuan
(US$1,234).
Last year, the average annual income for rural residents reached
2,936 yuan (US$355), far behind that of urban residents, whose average
annual income was 9,422 yuan (US$1,139) in 2004.
The team found that income disparity in rural areas is very close to
the "red light." Average farmers earned 3.39 times as much as
officially-designated poor farmers in 2004. In 1992, the disparity was
only 2.45 times as much.
"The government's top priority is to make those farmers still in
poverty earn more," the team concludes in a report.
A gap also exists among the urban residents. "And the gap is
growing," added Xu Fengxian, a researcher with the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences.
He said incomes of laid-off workers are decreasing while the wallets
of private business owners have been fattening at incredible rates.
The government has already become concerned by the growing income
disparity.
(China Daily)
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