Make Efforts to Develop an Olive-shaped Distribution Pattern: An Analysis Based on Data from the Chinese Social Survey for 2006-2013

Abstract

Increasing the proportion of the middle income group is key to shrinking the income gap and developing an olive-shaped distribution structure in China. Data from the Chinese Social Survey for 2006 to 2013 show that the proportion of the middle income group oscillates between 27 percent and 28 percent. It is estimated that by 2020, we will have achieved an initial olive-shaped distribution structure (larger in the middle and smaller at each end) if the average income of the lower and lower middle income groups can be quadrupled and that of the middle and high income groups can be doubled. To achieve this aim, we need to ensure that residents’ incomes rise faster than GDP, continue large-scale poverty reduction, endeavor to improve the employment situation for college graduates and the new generation of migrant workers, improve the social security system, stabilize the price of goods and housing, and alleviate the pressure on the lower middle income group.