(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-29 09:58

Keeping people's incomes growing in lock step with the country's expanding GDP should be part of the government's work, says an article in Guangzhou Daily. The following is an excerpt:

The government of East China's Shandong Province has just drawn up a paper saying the growth of workers' average salaries will be a key element in assessing the work of officials next year.

This would add a new perspective to work assessments, which are now closely focused on economic growth, government income and taxes. In other words, the Shandong government has made a choice to benefit the public.

Even as the country's economy has boomed, incomes have improved only slowly. Things look even worse when the rising costs of day-to-day goods are factored in.

Actually, salaries have for years accounted for about 15 percent of the GDP. Salaries account for about half of the GDP of developed countries such as the United States, Germany, Japan and Britain.

The low ratio of salary to GDP in China is also an important element behind the determination of Shandong officials to ensure salaries increase appropriately.

This decision is in line with a simple fact: economic development should benefit everyone, otherwise it will not be sustainable.

Investment, exports and consumption are the three engines driving the country's economic growth. Consumption has lagged behind the other two for years. One of the most important reasons for this is the slow growth in incomes.

Without a proper level of income, consumption will never be strong enough to drive the economy, and people will also have difficulty improving their lives, much less share in the fruits of economic prosperity.

When officials place the average salary of the work force high on their agendas, they are actually promoting the public interest, which is their due role. And the decision-makers in Shandong have done a good job in reminding their peers of that fact.