They’re not becoming millionaires, and maybe not even middle class by Western standards. But one thing is certain, the Chinese have more discretionary income than ever even as the economy ceases to grow like it used to.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported a blend of urban and rural household income stats that showed per capita disposable income rose 10.9% to $2,993, or around 18,311 yuan of extra cash floating around people’s houses. Disposable income of China’s urban residents increased 9.7% annually to 26,955 yuan while per capita net income for lower income rural residents rose 12.4% to 8,896 yuan, according to NBS.
The data is used to make national public policy and is not meant to be a picture of China’s median household income, Wang Pingping, a bureau official in charge of household surveys, told Xinhua newswire today. China is working to coordinate urban and rural development and fighting income disparity. Inequalities between the classes have worsened in China over the last decade.
See: Mapping China’s Income Inequality – The Atlantic
China’s gross domestic product grew 7.7% to 56.88 trillion yuan last year, but its relatively low national income keeps it an emerging economy. Per capita GDP gained 7.3% however to 66,199 yuan last year, NBS said. That’s around $10,960 a year, enough to make it an upper middle income country by World Bank standards.
Also in spite of slower growth, unemployment was just 4.05% in 2013, down from 4.09% in 2012.