China's Zhejiang vows to expand middle-income group

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhejiang Province Thursday pledged a slew of measures to expand its middle-income group, aiming to spearhead the country's pursuit of common prosperity.

"The goal is to form an olive-shaped social structure with the middle-income group as the mainstay," Xie Xiaobo, deputy chief of Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference.

By 2025, 80 percent of households in the eastern province will see their annual disposable income reach 100,000 yuan (about 15,793 U.S. dollars) to 500,000 yuan. The proportion of households with an annual disposable income of 200,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan will reach 45 percent, Xie said.

Special attention will be given to nine key groups such as technical workers, research personnel, college graduates, and migrant workers, said Xie.

For instance, Zhejiang now provides preferential employment policies for college graduates, including lifting most restrictions on household registration, offering living and housing subsidies, and providing loans for entrepreneurial activities.

Having long been high on the government agenda, common prosperity has gained particular attention since 2021 from both home and abroad as the leadership has put it in a more prominent position.

An essential requirement of socialism and a key feature of Chinese-style modernization, common prosperity refers to affluence shared by everyone both in material and cultural terms.

China also rolled out a guideline in 2021 to build Zhejiang into a demonstration zone for achieving this prosperity, making it an example for efforts in this regard.

Looking forward, China will work on an implementation plan to expand its middle-income group, Chang Tiewei, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission, said during the same press conference.

Efforts will be made to unveil measures tailored for primary groups, increase the incomes of both urban and rural residents, and help more low-income people join the middle-income group, said Chang.