The woes of the middle class

The ten new standards for white-collar workers' income, housing, lifestyle and job profile have triggered heated public discussions. Increasing the incomes of the middle class is a good way of narrowing the wealth gap and should be promoted at the institutional level, says an article on eastday.com. Excerpts:

Although it may be normal for fresh university graduates to have a lower income than some less-educated people and white-collar workers to be the most disadvantaged group according to experts, it is indisputable that the gap between them and the affluent group is widening.

Since the change in the threshold of individual income tax, the low-income group has paid less tax and the high-income people have managed to evade paying taxes commensurate with their incomes. But white-collar workers have been paying income tax as usual.

According to the theory of sociology, the emergence of middle class gives every member of society the hope to climb up to a higher class and helps alleviate social confrontation caused by the wealth gap. An olive-shaped social structure balances social resources and makes people feel secure.

The new standards for white-collar workers' income, housing, lifestyle and job profile reflect people's helpless state of self-mockery as well as their yearning to change things for the better. Only if the maladies in the income distribution system are rectified and measures are taken to form an olive-shaped wealth distribution pattern can white-collar workers live a relatively decent life and social harmony be promoted.

(China Daily 05/09/2013 page9)