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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (2562)	1/26/2004 10:48:01 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China's income disparity grew in 2003 By ED LANFRANCO Published 1/26/2004 11:48 AM View printer-friendly version BEIJING, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- China's widening gap between rural and urban income levels in 2003 was blamed on SARS and natural disasters in a story carried by state-run media on Monday. The statistics also point toward a potentially volatile income disparity among the underclass of urban peasants who build and serve Chinese cities. According figures released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, disposable income among urban residents in the mainland rose 9.3 percent to 8,500 Yuan ($1,025), while per capita cash income of rural citizens increased only 4.3 percent to 2,622 Yuan ($316) during 2003. The chief economist for the NBS, Yao Jingyuan, was quoted in the China Daily saying droughts and floods caused reductions in grain production and the SARS outbreak caused slow income growth for rural Chinese last year. "The SARS outbreak during the first half of last year had a great impact on rural income," Yao said. The article stated rural workers' per capita income dropped by 35 Yuan (about $4.25) in the second quarter of 2003 when SARS was at the most severe period in Beijing and some other cities; many migrant workers retreated from cities to their hometowns. Xie Yang, a senior researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council was quoted by China Daily as saying, "Migrant workers, mostly from rural areas, earned about 70 percent of a year's increased income over the past few years." It is a must to stimulate consumption in rural areas in order to realize the full expansion of domestic demand, a strong engine for economic growth, Xie said. China's rural population accounts for only one-third of total consumption in the country. The Chinese government faces a wide range of issues concerning farmers, rural areas, and agriculture. President Hu Jintao said recently the sustainable and coordinated development of the national economy and social stability requires an increase in rural people's income and development of the agricultural sector. Another major issue faced by Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao is the uneven transition from a rural to urban-based society. Approximately 900 million of China's nearly 1.30 billion people are classified as rural residents. The head of the NBS, Li Deshui, told United Press International last week that the country has a "nong-gong" (farmer-worker) population of 120 million. Also known as the floating population, it is the strata of Chinese society that works in cities, typically on labor-intensive factory assembly lines, at construction sites, and service industry jobs such as restaurant staff or domestics. Despite employment in urban areas most of the year, their income levels and access to social services continues to be measured officially as if they were residents of the countryside. Large segments of this group are not entitled to affordable care for elderly relatives or education opportunities for their children in the cities. Husbands and wives are often compelled by economic circumstance to live apart, even if working in the same city. "It's a good thing they're not organized or there would be big trouble," one Beijing-based diplomat told UPI on condition of anonymity. "The key factor preventing major coordinated disturbances coming out of the floating population is its fragmented nature," the envoy said. "Floaters speak regional dialects, have low levels of education, and don't use modern means of communication aside from public phones to call home," the diplomat said. It is easy to keep eyes open and ears pricked for signs of discontent among China's urban peasants. Construction gangs hired by labor contractors usually live in barracks-like dormitories on or near worksites, while waitresses and maids are provided room and board by their employers. Analysts are watching to see if Chinese government concern about the widening gap between rich and poor as well as uneven development between prosperous coastal provinces and underdeveloped hinterland causes a shift in spending toward social services in 2004. As fireworks boom into the fifth night of lunar New Year celebrations, China's floating population silently prepares to make its migration back for another year of work in cities across the country. Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International upi.com