Even the urban safety net is gated behind getting an urban hukou which has income requirements and stable residency requirements - both of which are difficult for the bottom half of society becuase of the chicken-and-egg situation. But the added issue is migrants on a rural hukou do not want to give up their rural hukou because oftentimes this means losing the right to any rural landholdings they may have - which for someone earning Yuan 2,000 to 4,000 a month doing gig work on Meituan is basically their only appreciating asset if the local prefecture decides to say expand a road or create an LGFV and thus entitling them to some (relatively) decent compensation.
This is the crux of the issue. There are very table stakes reforms that the central and provincial can conduct to help alleviate inequality, yet the bulk of spending is essentially expended on capex investments or subsidizes, which while great for building high value industries aren't generating a significant number of jobs because those industries require a college education.
No provincial government will work on expanding a social safety net without it becoming a priority at the Central level because everyone wants to climb the ladder, and there just isn't much fiscal leeway to expand that without central intervention.
> They can't afford to build a comparable one for the rural areas too as rural productivity is too low
That didn't stop Thailand or Malaysia. They might not have the same GDP per capita as China, but the median household disposable income of both is significantly higher (1.5x in the case of Thailand and 2.5x in the case of Malaysia).
Unlike both Thailand and Malaysia, the central government in China has much more leeway to expand the welfare net if it was a priority.
Even the urban safety net is gated behind getting an urban hukou which has income requirements and stable residency requirements - both of which are difficult for the bottom half of society becuase of the chicken-and-egg situation. But the added issue is migrants on a rural hukou do not want to give up their rural hukou because oftentimes this means losing the right to any rural landholdings they may have - which for someone earning Yuan 2,000 to 4,000 a month doing gig work on Meituan is basically their only appreciating asset if the local prefecture decides to say expand a road or create an LGFV and thus entitling them to some (relatively) decent compensation.
This is the crux of the issue. There are very table stakes reforms that the central and provincial can conduct to help alleviate inequality, yet the bulk of spending is essentially expended on capex investments or subsidizes, which while great for building high value industries aren't generating a significant number of jobs because those industries require a college education.
No provincial government will work on expanding a social safety net without it becoming a priority at the Central level because everyone wants to climb the ladder, and there just isn't much fiscal leeway to expand that without central intervention.
> They can't afford to build a comparable one for the rural areas too as rural productivity is too low
That didn't stop Thailand or Malaysia. They might not have the same GDP per capita as China, but the median household disposable income of both is significantly higher (1.5x in the case of Thailand and 2.5x in the case of Malaysia).
Unlike both Thailand and Malaysia, the central government in China has much more leeway to expand the welfare net if it was a priority.