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“We should start with stabilizing employment, because we can boost incomes of ordinary people only when employment is secured,” said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy commission at China Association of Policy Science.
Xu said that raising minimum wages, allowing more rural residents to settle in cities, and strengthening social safety nets would help increase earnings, and so spending, in the long run.
Some regulations could also be loosened, said Yao, the cabinet adviser.
“In Beijing and big cities, we still restrict auto purchases…there are no such restrictions in London, New York or Tokyo,” he said.
LINGERING FEARS
Incomes suffered under lockdowns and strict movement curbs. Some, especially migrant workers, lost months of wages. Urban disposable income growth slowed to 1.2% in 2020 from 5.0% the previous year.
Consumers chose to fill their bank accounts rather than empty their wallets. Households added 11.3 trillion yuan ($246.69 billion) in new bank savings in 2020, up from 9.7 trillion yuan the previous year, according to central bank data.
Fear of the virus, and continued small-scale outbreaks, continues to dissuade spending.
After a recent rebound in COVID-19 cases in the north of the country, around 30 million people were placed under a form of lockdown. Millions more have been asked to avoid traveling for Lunar New Year, usually a consumption hotspot.
“I won’t go out unless it’s absolutely necessary. This saves me from worry and saves me money too,” said Hou Aiping, a retired woman in her 50s who now only leaves home in Beijing to visit her parents and the supermarket.
“Even though the epidemic is contained, and I always wear my mask, I can’t guarantee I’ll be completely safe,” she said.
($1 = 6.4858 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Additional reporting by Cheng Leng and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
