Fully unleash the consumption potential of residents
Consumption is an important engine driving economic growth.The Central Economic Work Conference will focus on expanding domestic demand as one of the key tasks for 2023. Against the backdrop of weakened external demand, the importance of consumption is further highlighted, and there is an urgent need to further unleash consumption potential, prioritizing the recovery and expansion of consumption. With the stable transition of epidemic prevention and control, the consumption potential has gradually been released in the first half of the year, and the consumer market has steadily recovered, but still faces some challenges that are worth paying attention to.
Long term improvement in consumer fundamentals
China has a large population and vast consumer market space. The overall recovery trend of the consumer market continues, and the fundamentals are improving in the long term. Data shows that in the first half of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8.2% year-on-year; The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth is 77.2%, significantly higher than last year. From a long-term development perspective, China's urbanization rate is steadily increasing, which will provide strong support for the stable development of the consumer market in our country.
Currently, the demand for high-quality consumption among residents continues to increase, the concept of green environmental protection is more deeply rooted in people's hearts, the willingness to serve consumption is strong, and the consumption structure continues to be optimized and upgraded. With the innovation and expansion of consumption scenarios, steady growth of household income, and continuous improvement of market supply, consumption patterns continue to enrich, and the proportion of online consumption further increases. Data shows that in the first half of this year, the online retail sales of physical goods in China increased by 10.8% year-on-year, accounting for 26.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society.
At the same time, it also has the characteristics of fast recovery of consumption in counties and townships, and great potential in the consumer market. The recovery of rural markets is faster than that of urban areas. Data shows that in the first half of the year, the retail sales of rural consumer goods increased by 8.4% year-on-year, with a growth rate 0.3 percentage points faster than urban areas, indicating significant growth potential.
Promoting resident consumption still faces constraints
In terms of consumption ability, the slowdown in income growth and unreasonable income distribution among residents constrain the improvement of their consumption ability. In recent years, the growth trend of residents' income in China has not changed, but the growth rate has slowed down, making it difficult to continue promoting income growth for residents. There are still problems such as a large income gap, a low proportion of labor remuneration in initial distribution, and a low proportion of resident income in national income distribution. It is urgent to adjust the national income distribution pattern, continuously increase the income of urban and rural residents, and continuously narrow the income gap.
In terms of consumer willingness, increased employment pressure has led to unstable income expectations among residents, affecting their willingness to consume. Currently, there is a coexistence of total employment pressure and structural contradictions, and the employment situation for key groups is severe. The intensification of job competition, coupled with factors such as skill mismatch, information asymmetry, and changes in career choices, has led to significant employment pressure among young people. It should also be noted that the deepening of population aging and other issues have led to relatively weak consumption willingness among the elderly.
In terms of consumption environment, the consumption scenarios are not perfect enough, the supply types are not diverse enough, the quality needs to be improved, and multi-level consumption needs are not fully met. Especially in rural areas, there is still room for improvement in the consumption environment, which restricts the release of consumption potential for rural residents.
Unleash consumption potential through effective measures
Firstly, improve the income level of residents and improve the income distribution system. Optimize the salary structure, increase the reform of the salary system, and stabilize income expectations. Encourage entrepreneurship to drive employment and leverage the multiplier effect of entrepreneurship driving employment. Actively increasing investment in basic and vocational education, improving labor productivity, and laying the foundation for the growth of residents' income. By revitalizing land resources and enriching financial products that residents can invest in, we can increase their income through multiple channels, expand the scale of middle-income groups, and enhance their consumption capacity.
Secondly, create new consumption scenarios and expand new consumption models. Accelerate the organic integration of online and offline consumption, cultivate and expand new consumption formats such as "Internet plus", and stimulate consumption vitality. Strengthen the construction of new consumer infrastructure, vigorously develop new types of consumption such as digital consumption, and expand immersive, experiential, and interactive consumption scenarios. Continuously improving the offline consumption environment for residents, creating a number of key commercial districts and characteristic blocks, and enhancing the urban "fireworks".
Thirdly, create a fair and orderly consumption environment. Establish a sound quality standard system for consumer goods, and improve service and technical standards in key consumer areas. Comprehensively strengthen cross regional, cross departmental, and full process collaborative supervision, accelerate the construction of the consumer credit system, and increase the supervision and punishment of illegal activities such as false advertising, counterfeiting and confusion, counterfeiting and sales, and price fraud. Establish and improve a consumer complaint information disclosure system, further optimize the diversified resolution mechanism of consumer disputes, and comprehensively strengthen the protection of consumer rights and interests.
Fourthly, optimize consumption supply and quickly establish a supply system for high-end, diversified, and multi-level goods and services. Continuously improving the adaptability of the supply system to meet the constantly upgrading consumer demand with high-quality supply. Promote the improvement and upgrading of medical and health consumption, and develop more products and services suitable for the consumption of the elderly and infants and young children. Comprehensively promote the transformation and upgrading of green and low-carbon consumption, support the accelerated development of new energy vehicles, actively promote green building materials and green home decoration, and advocate green travel. Improve the county-level commercial system, guide large-scale commercial circulation enterprises, e-commerce platforms, and modern service enterprises to extend to rural areas.
