Zhang Qi's dream to one day own an apartment looks set to remain
just that.
The property he had his heart set on two years ago has since
doubled in price, to 10,000 yuan ($1,320) per square meter.
Zhang earns 6,000 yuan a month and his average annual salary
increase is just 6 percent. The down payment alone on the apartment
is 300,000 yuan.
Whether it is housing, petrol or pork prices, Zhang, like most
people, is finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
A recent survey conducted by the China Youth Daily
showed that 85 percent of those interviewed said their salary
increases were less than the country's average annual growth rate:
12 percent, according to the National Statistics Bureau.
Figures show the country is going through its fastest-ever
period of growth since it began opening up 30 years ago.
The annual wages of an average worker rose from 12,422 yuan in
2002 to 21,001 yuan in 2006, the survey said.
Going against the trend, 7 percent of those polled said their
salaries had fallen over the four-year period.
Of the 1,604 people interviewed, 64 percent said their salary
rises could not match the soaring economic development.
"My colleagues and I all questioned the 12 percent increase.
It's just not real," Zhang, a software engineer with a leading IT
company in Beijing, said.
"Most of us get a pay rise of about 400 yuan a year. Some
haven't had a rise for two years."
Zhang said his pay rises were nothing compared to the rising
prices of consumer goods.
The survey might explain the income disparity between national
statistics and public opinion polls.
In terms of who or what contributes most to the average growth
of annual salaries, the survey showed that 50 percent people
pointed to monopoly industries, 41 percent to companies' management
teams, and 8.1 percent to ordinary employees. According to the
China Economic Times, in 2005, some 8 percent of the country's
workforce, most employed by major State-owned companies, earned 55
percent of the total salaries.
The remaining 92 percent must be those who said their salaries
didn't rise, Xinhua News Agency columnist Guo Songmin said.
(China Daily July 11, 2007)