The ever-widening income gap between the richest and poorest
urban residents has become a hot topic of discussion among
officials, experts and everyday people in East China's Jiangsu
Province.
Official statistics show that last year the highest earners made
10.7 times as much as the lowest, compared to 5.4 times in 2000 and
9.9 in 2003, according to the Nanjing Morning Post.
"It will harm social reform as well as social stability if the
income discrepancy problem is not properly dealt with," said Zhang
Yan, chairwoman of the Workers' Union in Jiangsu.
A survey conducted by Jiangsu Workers' Union shows that in 2004,
the average per capita income among the top 10 percent of earners
in Jiangsu stood at 13,320 yuan (US$1,680) per year, while that of
the lowest 10 percent was just 1,397 yuan (US$166).
Zhang said the union will try to lift the lowest income level in
the province, which is currently 320 yuan (US$39) per month.
The provincial government is calling for regulations to avoid
excessive discrepancies in income distribution.
Wu Ruilin, deputy governor of Jiangsu, said at a recent
conference that the province is trying to revise the income spread
as well as taxation to try to narrow the gap.
"Sufficient employment is the most effective way to solve the
problem," said Fan Jian, an economist at Nanjing University.
"Due to the reform of State-owned enterprises, a large number of
redundant workers have been laid off. The income gap between the
working population and laid-off workers is widening," he
explained.
Fan emphasized that companies and enterprises should strive to
provide more job opportunities, and the government should
strengthen the development of the social security system.
Li Yin, a cleaner in Nanjing, the provincial capital, who had
been laid-off, thinks the income gulf is larger than the statistics
show.
"My monthly salary is only 400 yuan (US$48), which hardly meets
my needs. However, I have heard that some people can earn even
several tens of thousands of yuan in one month, and I just do not
understand why our incomes are so different," she said.
Wen Jin, with a master's degree in business administration,
earns 100,000 yuan (US$12,300) a year working for a
foreign-invested company in Suzhou.
"Knowledge is power and money," she said. "But it is not always
the truth. Some of my schoolmates have a much lower income,
although they are as intelligent as me."
Zhang Bo, a 26-year-old office clerk from Nanjing, thinks that
income tax holds the key to closing the gap.
"The high income people should pay more tax, while the low
income group pay little, or even no tax," he said.
(China Daily May 4, 2005)