The Beijing News:

I came across some data online indicating that while there is still an income gap between Shaanxi and the eastern coastal provinces, the growth rate of income in Shaanxi remains relatively rapid. Could you briefly outline the measures Shaanxi has taken to boost residents' income? Thank you.

Zhao Gang:

I'll invite Mr. Sun Ximin to address this question.

Sun Ximin:

Thank you for your question and your concern for the well-being of the people of Shaanxi. As a western province with a population of nearly 40 million, Shaanxi still faces a significant income gap with the eastern coastal provinces, a key challenge to our modernization efforts. In recent years, we have prioritized increasing residents' income as a key annual livelihood project, focusing on achieving prosperity for all. We have made every effort to boost residents' income and prosperity. Over the past three years, the annual average growth rate of per capita disposable income has surpassed the economic growth rate for the same period. We have mainly focused on four aspects of work:

First, we have boosted incomes through employment assistance. We have effectively implemented a combination of policies, such as helping enterprises stabilize jobs, expanding employment and vocational training, and made every effort to stabilize employment and laid a solid foundation for the growth of wage income, which is the main source of personal income. For example, in the case of work-relief programs, in the past three years, we have allocated 1.613 billion yuan in special funds to support 859 projects, involving more than 40,000 rural migrant workers, so that farmers can work and earn money locally.

Second, we have boosted incomes through the development of featured industries. We have mainly focused on vigorously developing county economies, continuously expanding a group of featured leading industries such as apples, kiwis, selenium-enriched foods, edible fungi, dairy goats and sundry grains, and driving the steady growth of personal operating incomes. For example, the output value of the Shaanxi apple industry chain exceeds 130 billion yuan, and Yan'an's income from apples contributes more than 60% to the operating income of rural residents.

Third, we have boosted incomes by increasing the value of property. We have steadily promoted collective economies through the "eliminating weakness and strengthening strength" initiative, focusing on increasing the proportion of village-level collective economic organizations that distribute dividends, and better supporting the growth of personal property income.

Fourth, we have promoted labor cooperation to increase incomes. We have deepened east-west cooperation with Jiangsu province, and through the labor cooperation mechanism, we have created nonagricultural employment opportunities for around 80,000 rural laborers in the past three years.

Promoting personal income growth is a long-term and basic task, for which we have also made plans and implemented a series of measures this year. For example, in terms of increasing incomes among rural residents, we have further promoted the development of rural industries, identified around 15 provincial-level modern agricultural full-industry chain guiding counties, and built 10 county-level livestreaming e-commerce bases with regional features. In terms of promoting employment, we have implemented a vocational skills improvement project, carried out government-subsidized vocational skills training for more than 300,000 people, and added 35,000 high-skilled talents.

We believe that by continuously implementing measures to increase incomes, people in Shaanxi will become richer and their lives will become more prosperous. Thank you.