By Cheng Yu & Ruan Rongping, Research Team on “Survey on People’s Livelihood in China”, DRC

Research Report No.113, 2016 (Total 4996)2016-09-01

Abstract: Results of the livelihood-centered household survey show that urban and rural residents are most dissatisfied with their income and employment in terms of their livelihood conditions. It is found through further analysis that income plays a decisive role in terms of people’s satisfaction with life, accounting for 11.21% of the degree of people’s life satisfaction. Though absolute income is limited in interpreting life satisfaction, stronger influence is exerted by income stratification, income changes and income gap. Regular employment, non-fixed jobs and working pressure also affect life satisfaction, out of which work duration and migrant workers away from their hometowns have a much bigger impact on people’s satisfaction with life. Therefore, income improvement and stable and regular employment hold the key to ensuring people’s well-being and enhancing people’s life satisfaction. We should proactively promote income growth of low-income groups, especially the income of farmers, focus on addressing the problem of inadequate guarantees for non-regular employment, and strive to narrow income gap and avoid further social polarization.

Key words: survey on people’s livelihood, satisfaction with life, income, employment