LUXURY FINDS ITS WAY: A model in a flagship store of haute couture brand 1436 draws fashion-conscious buyers in Shanghai (XINHUA)

Salary Picture Distorted

A recent sample survey of wages at more than 1,000 enterprises by Guangzhou-based Taihe Consultant Corp. has sparked extensive doubts. At a time when many enterprises are still struggling to recover from the global financial crisis, it seems incredible that wages of employees have risen by 9 percent.

Worse still, the authenticity of official wage statistics is being questioned by the public. Experts with labor authorities have admitted that nearly 60 percent of urban laborers, mostly those who work in private enterprises, were not included in previous wage surveys.

Though the data are constantly updated and sample surveys have been conducted on private sector employees, it is far from enough. For example, wage surveys still do not cover migrant workers who toil for very little pay and small or no pay rises. The number of these workers exceeds 200 million, more than 14 percent of the country's population.

The inaccurate statistics are detrimental to the welfare of the working class because they present the wrong picture. It's time to reform flawed statistical methodology as soon as possible.

Guangzhou Daily

Housing Privilege

In Xianyang City in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, houses priced at 3,100 yuan ($456) a square meter on the local property market were sold to civil servants at 2,800 yuan ($412) a square meter. While government officials claimed the price was the result of hard negotiations with property developers in the form of group purchase of 2,600 apartments, local residents said it was a special housing provision for a privileged class.

Group purchase is not a new idea. The intention is to buy maximum goods at minimum price. In the face of rocketing housing prices, group purchase seems a wise choice, but why do the local residents feel dissatisfied about the purchase? After all, a discount of 300 yuan ($44) is normal.

The only reason is the identity of the purchasers as civil servants. Since they claim that they are the people's servants, they are supposed to care more for ordinary people. Civil servants' group purchase of discounted houses adds to people's worries about the fairness of the housing policy.

As for what led to excessively high housing prices, there are many different explanations. But one thing is certain: Land-transfer fees and associated tax revenues, which compose the major income of some local governments, will increase on pace with high housing prices. In Xianyang's case, with civil servants immune to soaring house prices, they will tend to adopt policies supporting price increases, because they will bring them extra dividends.

Only when civil servants feel the pain of rocketing housing prices, can we expect the price hikes to be really curbed.

Metropolis Daily

Whose Fault?

Recently, some students of the Henan University of Technology were told that they had been issued credit cards by a local bank, although they know nothing about it. Of the students, some are graduates now off the campus.

In the banking industry there is a "hidden rule." For anyone who persuades a client to open a credit card account, there is a sales commission of 50 yuan ($7.35) to 100 yuan ($14.70). This time, it concerns thousands of students, so the bonus must be a big sum.

The desire for profit, insufficient protection of citizens' personal information and cut-throat competition in the banking sector nowadays mean an individual's information is exposed to the public and, sometimes, credit cards are opened for a personal account without notifying the client.

Tough competition has forced banks to target a potential consumer group: students. Students of the Henan University of Technology are fortunate as they have received credit cards and can decide whether to use them or not. But in some cases, students were suddenly told they were overdrawn but had no idea of any card in their name.

Knowing that parents will help to pay off debt, banks tempt students to use and even overdraw on credit cards. Meanwhile, most teenagers don't know how to control a budget and how to protect their personal credit records. As a result, overdrawing happens. But are the students the only ones who should be blamed? Are the banks, the original driving force of the excessive expenses, blameless?

The Beijing News

Unaffordable Luxury

While consumers in Western countries tighten their belts on luxury spending in a time of global financial turmoil, luxury sales in China are booming, with a quarter of the world's prestige brands finding buyers in China.

In a country where there is a narrow rich-poor gap, the salability of luxury commodities is a reflection of the comfortable living conditions of the people and rising aesthetic levels. However, in China where more than 100 million people are still living on less than $1 a day, an exceptionally booming luxury market shows that the rich class is in possession of too much wealth. It also indicates that rich people are making money very easily, because in a developing country, those who are struggling to make money do not spend much on luxury goods. Thus, while a market for luxury brands is rapidly growing in a developing country such as China, we cannot help worrying about the huge gap between the rich and the poor.

China is now the world's largest luxury consumer, but it seems that we cannot find any reason to rejoice in the title.

Dahe Daily