This is a labor market in Guangzhou, where unemployment is rising. Many people are even pleading: "As long as there’s food to eat, it's enough." (Screenshot from video)
[People News] There’s a common saying: "The more you work, the more you earn; diligence leads to wealth." According to the latest data recently released by the U.S. National Bureau of Statistics, China ranks first in the world in both total labor volume and labor force participation rate. This means that Chinese people are the most hardworking in the world. However, according to Baidu data, in 2024, China’s per capita Gross National Income (GNI) ranks approximately 141st in the world, placing it on par with Cambodia and Nepal. So, what is preventing Chinese people from achieving prosperity through hard work?
On March 16, commentator Yuan Bin published an article titled "Why Do Chinese People Work So Hard Yet Earn So Little?" In it, he pointed out that China's labor force participation rate has reached 76%, meaning only 24% of people are not engaged in work—this includes the elderly, young children, and students. In contrast, the labor force participation rate in the United States is only 65%, Japan’s is 58%, Brazil’s is 70%, while India’s is as low as 55%, meaning nearly half of India’s population chooses to stay at home rather than work.
The article notes that despite Chinese people being the most hardworking in the world and China having the world's second-largest GDP, the income levels of ordinary citizens remain shockingly low. On May 28, 2020, during the closing session of the CCP’s Two Sessions, then-Premier Li Keqiang revealed that "600 million Chinese people belong to the low- and middle-income group, with an average monthly income of just around 1,000 yuan." In other words, half of China’s population falls into the low-income category. A study by the China Institute for Income Distribution at Beijing Normal University found that 220 million Chinese people earn less than 500 yuan per month. This means that 220 million Chinese citizens have a daily income of less than $3 USD.
Additionally, independent scholar Liu Zhirong has revealed that China's minimum annual income is less than 15% of the global average, placing the country 159th in the world rankings.
Moreover, the latest statistics indicate that the average monthly pension for elderly individuals in rural China is merely 123 yuan. In the extensive rural regions of central and western China, hundreds of millions of farmers continue to survive on a monthly pension of around 100 yuan.
Another noteworthy set of data comes from the 'China Statistical Yearbook 2024', which shows that the total wage amount in China for 2023 was 19,741.67 billion yuan, with total employment reaching 74,041 million people, resulting in an average annual wage income of only 26,600 yuan. This data reveals that the total wage amount in China constitutes just 15.66% of GDP, significantly lower than that of developed countries, and is comparable to or possibly even lower than levels in Africa.
Yuan Bin has pointed out that the low proportion of wage income to GDP in China suggests that a significant share of the wealth generated by workers is appropriated by the government. Firstly, a large portion is allocated for extensive financial aid. According to reports from the party media Xinhua News Agency, the total amount of foreign aid provided by the Communist Party in 2024 is expected to reach 1,288 billion yuan, surpassing the United States and securing the top position globally. Another portion is directed towards military expenditures, with China currently holding the second position in military spending worldwide. Additionally, funds are also used for stability maintenance. Reports from a few years ago indicated that the costs associated with maintaining stability in China even exceeded military expenditures. Furthermore, the administrative expenses of the Communist Party government itself rank first in the world. Naturally, the elite within the Communist Party have also accumulated vast wealth through corruption and other exploitative practices.
Yuan Bin remarked that the overwhelming majority of wealth generated by the Chinese populace has been appropriated and squandered by the Communist Party of China (CPC), which he identifies as the root cause of the poverty affecting 600 million Chinese citizens.
Why are the Chinese so industrious yet unable to enhance their living conditions? A detailed analysis in the Epoch Times' "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" explains that the Communist Party exhibits traits of being 'possessed by an evil spirit.' 'The Communist Party organization itself does not engage in production or innovation; once it seizes power, it attaches itself to the state and its people, manipulating and controlling them, overseeing the smallest units of society to safeguard its power, while monopolizing the original sources of social wealth to extract resources from society.'
'As a result, Chinese farmers endure extreme poverty and hardship, as they must shoulder not only the burden of traditional state officials but also an equal or greater number of these parasitic officials. This explains the large-scale layoffs of Chinese workers, as these pervasive channels of exploitation have been siphoning off corporate funds for years.'
A Chinese internet user who managed to circumvent the Great Firewall shared, 'I now try to avoid eating if possible; when I am truly hungry, I go to the market to scavenge for vegetable leaves to cook at home. I live in Beijing and have been unemployed for three years; I don’t know how much longer I can endure. Many around me are in similar situations, and homeless individuals who vanished over a decade ago are reappearing, but they will soon be apprehended, and the media is prohibited from reporting on it. This is Beijing, after all.'
Other internet users also commented: 'With the clear direction provided by the zero-COVID secretary, everything returns to zero', 'Supporting impoverished African nations with hundreds of billions of dollars, where does that money come from?', 'China can only achieve prosperity by abandoning dictatorship and reforming to a democratically elected government', 'Without the Communist Party, there would be a new China, and things would improve.'
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