Society

China needs binding targets on living standards

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-10 16:42

BEIJING - China's government should set binding targets on standards of living for the next five years and make such targets criteria for evaluating the work of authorities, a social security expert has proposed.

The government should quantify targets based on the Gini Coefficient, which gauges income disparity, the share of workers' pay in the primary distribution of national income and government expenditure to improve living standards, said Professor Zheng Gongcheng, of the People's University of China.

It should also make household income growth a binding target, he said.

Zheng said the targets should be used to evaluate the work of governments and officials, in a bid to change the current evaluation system that put too much weight on GDP growth.

Zheng made the remarks at a forum organized by the Economic Committee of the China Democratic League Central Committee on Thursday. Zheng is the director of the economic committee.

Suo Lisheng, vice chairman of the China Democratic League Central Committee, said at the forum that China should reform its state-owned enterprises, household registration and employment systems to pave the way for a long-lasting and fair income distribution.

The country should also readjust its fiscal, taxation and social security policies to improve the secondary distribution of income, Suo said.

According to a World Bank report, the Gini Coefficient for China surged to 0.47 in 2009, exceeding the "security line" of 0.4, pointing to an unequal distribution of income that could lead to social unrest.

The figure was 0.21 to 0.27 three decades ago.

In the primary distribution of national income, the proportion that goes to wages and salaries, the major source for China's middle and low-income families, was also declining.