Middle-income group can be a bridge to sustainable growth

By ruling out the possibility of a quick and strong recovery, such a sober view has actually raised the question of how the country can manage to overcome the middle-income trap after more than three decades of double digit growth.

While rising income levels have eroded the international competitiveness of many small- and mid-sized economies to slow their growth, a significantly enlarged middle-income group might be the Chinese answer to this global development challenge.

In spite of the lack of a clearly-defined criterion for middle income in this country, the fact that Chinese travelers have made around 120 million overseas trips in 2015, up 12 percent from the year before, will at least provide a glance at the huge potential of a certain part of the country's middle-income group.

With a population of 1.3 billion, no one should expect the number of global-trotters from China to peak soon as the country's middle-income group is just set to expand.

Instead of regarding rising income levels for a larger number of Chinese workers as merely a burden on enterprises in this country, Chinese policymakers should realize that a better income distribution mechanism to ensure a larger share of the overall economic pie for the majority of workers will help sustain economic growth in the long run.

On one hand, a substantial increase in the number of middle-income families will give a lasting and powerful boost to consumption-led growth. On the other hand, upgrading their consumption will incentivize Chinese enterprises to embrace supply-side reforms on which China's economic future hinges.

In this sense, the middle-income level will not necessarily be a trap but rather a bridge to China's long-term growth.

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.