Chinese Consumers Are Turning Cautious

This report outlines the factors driving increasingly cautionary spending behavior of Chinese consumers. A confluence of factors is crimping Chinese consumption. A weakening outlook for jobs is dragging on the mass market. For higher-income consumers, indebtedness and waning real estate wealth effects are the culprits. Income growth, the most important consumption enabler, is slowing measurably for the middle earning group in China. The route to sustainable consumption growth is for government policy to effect income growth for poorer citizens, as this cohort has a high propensity to spend when they have the funds available. Moreover, experience in other countries shows that pushing up income levels here serves to eventually push up income levels across the board.