The dream and reality for young Chinese workers

National Bureau of Statistics figures show the average yearly wage for Chinese urban workers in 2003 was 14,040 yuan. The most recent figures (from 2012) reveal annual wages for urban workers have more than tripled to an average of 47,593 yuan.

The average rural net income per capita has tripled over the same period from 2,622.2 yuan in 2003 to 7,916.6 yuan in 2012.

But calculations based on data from the National Bureau of Statistics show the basic cost of living has also skyrocketed in China.

In 2003, the annual average cost of living for each rural Chinese worker was 1,943 yuan, or 74 percent of the average rural net income per capita.

By 2012, the figures show price rises for basic consumables had kept pace with the rise in rural income, with the average cost of living for each rural worker about 5,908 yuan, or 74.62 percent of the average rural household income.

The numbers paint a much rosier picture for urban dwellers.

In 2003, the annual average cost of living for an urban dweller was 6,510 yuan, or 46.37 percent of the average wage.

In 2012, the annual average cost of living for an urban dweller was 16,674.3 yuan, just 35 percent of the average wage.

Yang Juxiang

Yang Juxiang, 47, is one of the millions of migrant workers from the countryside chasing those higher wages in the cities.

In an old and cavernous Shenzhen factory, she sits at a table with five others. They box up pieces of filmy plastic that have been spat out by a noisy machine.

Originally from Sichuan province, Yang has been doing this job for 14 years.

"We don't know what we are making," she says. "We make things for China, we make things that are exported overseas."

She recently received a 200-yuan pay rise and now makes about 1,800 yuan a month for eight hours' work, six days a week.

Across the table from her, new employee Fu Yuefeng, 20, is learning the ropes.

He's a middle school drop out who loves Sylvester Stallone movies.

"My dream is I want to be a boss, any kind of boss," he says. "It's unrealistic. It will never happen."

The older women at the table cluck and disagree and offer encouragement. The numbers, and the experts, agree with these matrons of manufacturing. The future is generally looking brighter for young Chinese workers.

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