The deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(CASS)' Institute of Population and Labor Economics told a forum in
Beijing last Saturday that income differentials are now alarming,
according to Chinanews.com December 19.
"Although the income of urban and rural areas has been improved
year by year, the income gap among residents in Beijing has become
larger and larger and the gap between rich and poor has seriously
surpassed the warning limit," said Zhang Chewei.
Speaking at the Forum on Population Development and Harmonious
Society, held by the Population Association of Beijing, Zhang said
the gap between China and developed countries is obvious and the
high number of poor obstructs the construction of a well-off
society.
Zhang said the "international warning limit" of a too-big gap
between rich and poor is 0.45 on the Gini coefficient, on which
scale 0 is perfect equality and 1 perfect inequality.
The figure for Beijing is now up to 0.5 and Zhang said the
government should pay great attention to this.
Du Wulu, senior statistician at Beijing
Municipal Bureau of Statistics, said that according to figures
from January to October, the income of Beijing residents was 11,698
yuan (US$1,435), increasing 12.6 percent compared with last
year.
Du said the tendency of income gap enlargement is obvious. In
2002 the ratio between rich and poor incomes was 4.53 to 1; in 2003
it reached 4.7 to 1, and in 2004 5 to 1.
The income gap among different professions has also increased.
Du said the highest annual salary of insurance salespeople can
reach 240,000 yuan (US$30,000). However, the lowest annual salary
of housekeepers was only 6,540 (US$818). Even in the same
profession, the salary of managers can be 13 times more than
ordinary employees'.
According to Du, this tendency is a new problem of economic
development at a very high speed. He thought that, besides
subsidies for low-income people, government policies in education,
public health and other areas should serve them better.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, December 22, 2005)