THE State Council has unveiled steps to support job creation, improve labor mobility and cut social insurance rates, in a bid to halt a slowdown in income growth that could hurt consumption.

    Consumption is driving China’s economic growth, but a further slowdown in income growth in the third quarter highlights the challenges to a transition away from manufacturing and heavy industry.

    “The downward pressure on the economy is transmitting to the area of income distribution,” the State Council said in guidelines published on the Central Government’s website Friday.

    “We must further deepen reforms of the income distribution system, adjust and optimize income distribution policy, broaden the channels of employment and entrepreneurship, and strive to create a fair environment that is stimulating and progressive.”

    Per capita disposable income rose 6.3 percent year-on-year in the January to September period to 17,735 yuan (US$2,6314), government data showed, down from 6.5 percent growth in the first half of the year and the slowest since 2013, the year in which the data was first released.

    The State Council affirmed a long-term plan to double per capita incomes by 2020 from 2010.

    The government will take steps to boost wage incomes and give people more opportunities to earn from their holdings of stocks, debt and property, according to the guidelines.

    The government will also reduce social insurance rates and other labor costs and push reforms to improve labour mobility.

    At the same time, it will use taxation and social security to regulate income distribution to help narrow the income gap between different groups, the State Council said.

    (SD-Agencies)