By Zhang Liang

Research Report Vol.20 No.4, 2018

In 2017, the Research Team on “Chinese People’s Livelihood Survey” of Development Research Center of the State Council conducted household surveys on people’s livelihood concerns in the eight provinces of Hebei, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang and Fujian, and obtained a total of 9,896 valid questionnaires. According to the survey, in 2017, as the economic growth became stable and the country adopted a series of policies to promote the income growth of residents, the income level of residents remained generally stable, which was significantly better than the situation revealed in the previous survey. At the same time, the survey also reflected that the proportion of the respondents who showed dissatisfaction with their income level remained high, the income gap was even more prominent, the aid to the low-income group needed to be better targeted, and there were still problems such as wage arrears. All these problems deserve close attention.

I. Thanks to the Bounce Back of Economic Growth Rate and a series of Policies for Promoting income Growth, the Residents’ income Significantly increased in 2017 than in the Previous Year and the Population who reported Income decrease largely Shrank

1. Residents’ income significantly increased than in the previous year; the proportion of residents who reported lower income notably decreased

According to the survey, the residents’ income maintains steady growth on the whole, which is notably better than the situation in the previous year. As indicated by Table 1, the respondents who report that compared with the same period of the previous year the monthly income has decreased only account for 19.5%[]①, 9.2 percentage points lower than the result recorded in the previous survey[]②. Among them, the number of the respondents who report their monthly income has sharply decreased is notably smaller than in the previous survey. Only 3.9% of the respondents report sharp decrease in monthly income, 3.9 percentage points lower than the level recorded in the previous survey. Meanwhile, the household income is turning for the better. As showed in Table 2, those who report the 2017 household income is lower than the 2016 level account for 23.1% of all respondents, 10.5 percentage points lower than the figure recorded in the previous survey. Among them, 5.7% find their household income markedly decreased, 4.8 percentage points lower than in the previous survey.

2. The income level of some traditional industries about which marked income decrease had been reported in the previous survey notably turned higher

As shown by the survey, some traditional industries affected by economic restructuring also find the income level notably growing. The previous survey indicated the respondents found the four industries recording relatively sharp income decrease: the mining industry, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, wholesale and retail, and construction. The present survey shows among the respondents engaging in these fields, those who find income decreasing respectively account for 24.0%, 21.7%, 30.9% and 23.1%, 41.7, 13.4, 10.4 and 15.2 percentage points than the levels recorded in the previous survey. Besides, the proportion of the respondents engaging in the four fields who find the income sharply decreasing has markedly lowered whereas as much as 25.7% of the respondents reported sharp income decrease in the previous survey.

3. The income level of the frontline respondents and those with no labor contract notably increased

Seen from the working posts, the proportion of frontline worker respondents who report income decrease has sharply dropped. Among the frontline production staff, temporaries, farmers and self-employed businessmen, respectively 12.5%, 19.5% and 24.3% report lower income, 15.0, 6.2 and 12.4 percentage points lower than the levels recorded in the previous survey. Among them, the proportion of those who report sharply decreased income has also markedly dropped.

Among the frontline production staff, temporaries, farmers and self-employed businessmen, respectively 1.6%, 4.5% and 5.0% report sharply decreased income, 5.9, 2.4 and 5.1 percentage points lower than the levels recorded in the previous survey. Among the holders of different labor contracts, the proportion of the respondents with no labor contract who report income decrease is notably higher than that of those with labor contract. Compared with the previous survey, the proportion of respondents holding diverse labor contracts who report income decrease has dropped on the whole. As indicated by Table 5, among the respondents with no labor contract, 19.6% report income decrease, 13.3 percentage points lower than the level recorded in the previous survey. Among the respondents out of the scope including the self-employed workers like farmers, 24.3% report income decrease, 10.8 percentage points lower than the level in the previous survey.

4. Judging by household income level, most of the household groups at different income levels find the proportion of the households reporting income drop is decreasing

Different from the previous survey, in the present survey, except for the respondents whose family income stands at 500,000 yuan and above[]③, the proportions of the respondents in other income groups who report income decrease have dropped to different extent. Comparatively speaking, the proportion of the low- and mid-income families which earn an annual income of less than 100,000 yuan and report income decrease registers the most marked decline. Among the households with annual income of less than 10,000 yuan, between 10,000 and 29,900 yuan, between 30,000 and 49,900 yuan, between 50,000 and 99,900 yuan, between 100,000 and 149,900 yuan, between 150,000 and 249,900 yuan, between 250,000 and 499,900 yuan, the proportions of those reporting income decrease respectively stand at 25.8%, 31.7%, 27.2%, 20.5%, 17.3%, 16.2%, 19.0% and 32.4%, 9.7, 10.6, 11.9, 10.4, 5.0, 2.6 and 4.6 percentage points lower than the levels recorded in the previous survey. Additionally, the proportion of the low-income families or the families with an annual income of less than 50,000 yuan which report sharp income reduction has largely decreased. Among the families with an annual income of less than 10,000 yuan, between 10,000 and 29,900 yuan, and between 30,000 and 49,900 yuan, the proportions of those which find income decrease stand at 7.4%, 8.1% and 6.6% respectively, 6.5, 6.3 and 4.7 percentage points lower than the levels recorded in the previous survey.

There have been many positive changes in the income level in 2017, which are attributable to the impact of economic stabilization and recovery and the series of policies the country has adopted to promote income growth.

First, the steady recovery of China’s economy lays a solid foundation for the steady growth of the residents’ income. Economic development is the root reason for income growth. Over recent years, the income growth has slowed down, and the expansion of the population who report income decline is directly related to downward economic growth. In 2017, China’s economic growth rate stabilized and rebounded, putting an end to the continuous economic slowdown since 2013. The gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.9% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points higher than in the previous year. In addition, with the deepening of the structural reform of the supply side, the capacity utilization rate of some traditional industries has increased significantly, which has effectively boosted the income growth of these industries. According to statistics, in 2017 the national industrial capacity utilization rate was 77.0%, an increase of 3.7 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, the coal mining and washing industry capacity utilization rate was 68.2%, an increase of 8.7 percentage points year-on-year; ferrous metal smelting and calendering industry capacity utilization rate was 75.8%, an increase of 4.1 percentage points year-on-year.

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