A Chinese economist said in a signed article in Monday's People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party, that both egalitarianism and big income gap should be overcome in the process of reforming and standardizing income distribution system.

Zhao Renwei, an economic research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a socio-economic think tank, said the reform on income distribution, initiated by the top Chinese leadership, is just aimed at preventing the two trends (egalitarianism and enlarged income gap).

Under the Civil Servants Law implemented on January 1, China must have a uniform salary system across the country. This would mean there would be no gap in salaries for civil servants of the same rank.

Currently, the salaries for civil servants of the same rank mainly depend on the well-being of local government finances and therefore their pay varies with regions. To remedy the situation, the Chinese leadership said extra stipend should be granted to civil servants working in poor areas and in the regions.

Zhao acknowledged the reform is not simply meant to raise the salaries of civil servants.

It is actually aimed at improving the mechanism on the determination and normal increases of salaries so that it can better reflect the requirement of socialist economy and achieve fair distribution on the back of economic growth and efficiency enhancement, Zhao said.

Zhao also outlined a series of measures aimed at reducing the income gap between the country's urban and rural populations.

The key to raising farmers' income lies fully developing the manufacturing and service sectors, he said.

Zhao said the removal of barriers obstructing migrant workers from fair employment opportunities should be stepped up. He also said taxation should be employed to redistribute social income, transferring some of the wealth from the rich to the poor.

He called for the improvement of education for the working classes, calling it a "prerequisite" to increase earnings.

Source: Xinhua