China's Long-Promised Consumer Boom Is a Mirage

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : Even if Communist Party leaders wanted to unleash more spending, formidable obstacles stand in the way, including a work force increasingly trapped in insecure, low-wage employment, a rapidly aging and shrinking population and a weak social safety net that encourages people to save for emergencies.
53% : Adding to worker insecurity is China's household registration system, which restricts access to social services like schooling and health care outside one's hometown.
46% : While the United States and Europe typically stimulate spending by putting money in consumers' hands through tax cuts, direct payments to individuals and families or social safety nets that reduce the need to save for emergencies, China's government manages the economy primarily through the country's companies.
42% : Reform of the registration system has been discussed for decades, but eliminating it would shift enormous welfare costs onto those cities, which currently reap benefits from migrant labor without shouldering social costs.
38% : According to a study last year, nearly half of gig workers have little to no social safety net -- health care, pension, unemployment, housing or maternity benefits -- a problem worsened by chronic government underinvestment in social services.

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