From Chinese Press

Bonus debate misses the point

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-02-01 07:56

With the lunar new year just two days away, the annual bonus has come to the fore once again and sparked a fierce debate. But the emphasis of the debate should be on wealth disparity in society, says an article Time-Weekly. Excerpts:

The debate on whether workers should be paid an annual bonus is fiercer this year because of the unexpected two-digit growth of the national economy and the record fiscal revenue earned by the government. What has added fuel to the debate fire is that people's income has not increased significantly enough.

But the public response to the debate on annual bonus has again exposed the widening wealth gap. Some surveys claim that the majority of respondents have said that they do get an annual bonus. Such surveys, however, seem to target white-collar workers and do not include the low-income group.

In fact, many migrant workers say they have no idea what annual bonus is. Although some of them get something in the name "year-end bonus", the amounts are too small to ease their financial burden.

In sharp contrast, some staff members of State-owned enterprises, especially monopolies, expect a cash windfall in the name of annual bonus, which in many cases is more than ordinary workers' salaries.

As some experts say, the excessively high income of monopolies' employees is a major reason for the widening wealth gap between the rich and the poor. The debate on annual bonus has actually pulled the trigger for a greater public debate on how to deepen income distribution reform.

(China Daily 02/01/2011 page9)