To escape the middle-income trap and keep a lid on social unrest, authorities must work out how to create better jobs for city dwellers.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
Bankers’ 40% Pay Cuts Show the China Dream Fading in Its Richest Cities
Salaries are falling in finance, technology and the “new economy.” That puts Xi Jinping’s campaign to restore confidence and revive growth at risk.
For decades, China’s biggest cities have been home to one of the world’s greatest economic success stories: a nearly unbroken rise in living standards that lifted millions into the middle class.
That trend is now coming to a halt, creating an under-the-radar threat to President Xi Jinping’s campaign to revive growth.