By Zhang Liang, Research Team on “Survey on Chinese People’s Livelihood”, DRC

Research Report, No.132, 2019 (Total 5632) 2019-8-9

Abstract: Thanks to steady economic growth and a series of government policies on increasing residents’ income, China’s personal earnings remained stable in 2018 over the previous year, with 74.8 percent of respondents noted that their income had increased or remained unchanged. But quite a number of respondents revealed that their family income decreased to some extent, and the vast majority of respondents complained that their daily cost had increased, having less for spending. Those who could not set aside some of their income accounted for a large number and those whose income did not increase much faced greater pressure induced by less income and more spending. In addition, the economic performance both at home and abroad is becoming increasingly complex in the coming days. Some new issues and problems might exert a more serious impact on employment and income growth. Therefore, effective measures need to be taken to avoid great shock to personal income growth.

Key words: survey on people’s livelihood, changes in income and spending, major characteristics, policy options