Chinese workers in all industries face salary discounts and dismissals while growing economic misfortunes engulf the public and private sectors of China, according to radio sources Free Asia.
This forces families to reduce expenses. It also triggers deflationary concerns as companies enter desperate price wars.
From the central government offices of Beijing to provincial agencies across China, as well as the main public enterprises such as the China International Corp (ICCC) investment bank, employees have faced substantial salary reductions that have reduced household budgets and fundamentally modified consumption expenses.
“I won 6,000 yuan (or US $ 835) per month, but now I only receive 5,000 yuan (US $ 696), and certain compensation has also been deleted,” a state -based state -based state -based company. Like many other interviewed for this story, Li wanted to be identified by a single name for security reasons.
“Some people in my wife’s business have also reduced their salaries and some have received dismissal opinions, saying that they will only work until the end of July,” said Li.
In the Zhejiang, considered one of the most prosperous provinces of China, ordinary officials had their annual wages reduced from 50,000 to 60,000 yuan (or US $ 6,964 to US $ 8,356) this year, a resident of the province of Zhuji City told RFA.
Officials at higher posts have experienced deeper discounts at their annual salary from around 80,000 to 100,000 yuan (or US $ 11,100 to US $ 1,900) and others at even higher levels of around 150,000 yuan (or US $ 20,890), Zheng said.
“There is already a reduction two years ago. This year’s salary is reduced again,” he added.
The cuts indicate the financial pressure on local governments, because the internal economic challenges lead to the lukewarm demand from consumers and prices. This has an impact on the ability of companies to pay taxes. In addition, local governments are struggling with a drop in land transfer income in a low demand from the real estate market.
For 2025, the Chinese provincial regions have established prudent estimates of budgetary income, with an average growth target of 2.8% for their public budgetary income, which is the sum of tax and non -tax income. This is down 1.6 percentage points compared to the target average of 2024, as revenue generation challenges continue to weigh on local governments, according to economists.
For example, in Shandong, many real estate projects have been suspended in the past two years without land sales being recorded, which has an impact on the already important tax debt levels of the local government, said a blogger based in the northeast coastal province, also known as ” Li is not your teacher ”, who publishes this platform to circumvent a Chinese government.
Another resident of the Shandong, named Geng, told RFA, that those responsible for the county and canton of the province had been reduced by 30%, payments are frequently delayed.
“Now, the county finances have been exhausted and the benefits for the police have also been reduced,” said Geng, a resident of Qingdao City.
Police in many other regions have also experienced significant discounts of their annual wages, to 200,000 yuan (US $ 27,856) this year of 300,000 yuan (US $ 41,784) a year ago, said a legal professional based in the south-east of China Guangdong Province.
Generalized salary reductions
Employees of large public commercial commercial companies, such as the CICC investment bank and the China Development Bank, were also not spared, companies carrying out “optimization measures” cost reduction, including wage reductions and layoffs, in the midst of a government campaign to cap the ceilings in financial institutions and bring more to other civil servants
But a CICC employee said that wage reductions had affected almost all levels of staff. “Almost everyone in our building has reduced their wages. The lowest employees also reduced their wages by 5%. I heard that the reductions for mid-term employees are even more important, “he said.
According to a report by Caixin Media Group, based in Beijing, 27 financial companies belonging to a government began to implement salary discounts, mainly aimed at achieving the target of ceiling annual income from these companies to 1 million yuan (US 139,180 $), while Beijing advances with a campaign, known as “common prosperity” equipment.
MA, who works in a state -based state -based state company, said his company has already carried out two cycles of wage and layoffs since 2023. “The basic salary has decreased, and the company also canceled the meals and transport subsidies,” said my work done by two or three people must now be done by one person. “
Another employee of a public bank based in the city of Dongguan de Guangdong has said that his salary had been reduced by 30% in the past two years, with “almost completely cut” performance bonuses.
“Consumer’s belt greenhouse chain”
Wair discounts have sparked a sharp drop in consumption expenses, creating deflationary pressures in the economy, while businesses engage in aggressive prices reducing a desperate offer to attract consumers short of cash.
“The prize war has become the last fight for many small businesses,” said Meng, a resident of the Shandong, in RFA.
“For example, the good ribs here sell only 12 yuan (or US $ 1.67) per book, and the purchase price of living pigs is only a few yuans … Restaurants are desperately offering discounts to survive. It is not competition, but dragging each other. ”
In Beijing, the small supermarkets “reduce prices like a madman,” said a resident of the Haidian district of the city. “I am afraid that they will not all go bankrupt in a few months at this rate.”
In his own house too, SU has observed major changes in spending models, with less family gatherings and less frequent catering meals, as household budgets are tightening.
The economist Wu Qinxue warned that the current situation highlights the continuous decline in the budgetary levels of local governments and is not only a temporary oath.
“The (local) government has no money to manage people, and no one is ready to spend money,” he said. “System reductions in the system with the collapse of consumption among ordinary people, the whole society is quietly formed a” tightening chain “up and down (consumption belt).
Written by Tenzin Pema. Edited by Mat Pennington.