Mainland incomes rose faster in countryside than in cities last year for the third year as migrants from the rural to urban are helping push up their incomes. Rural per capita net income rose 10.7%, against a 9.6% increase for urban dwellers, partly because of the rise in migrant labourers and their wages, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Rural residents’ income from benefits payments rose 21.9%, almost double the urban pace, as the government boosted its budget for health-care handouts.
~ SCMP, January 31, 2013 ~