Fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is widening the gap between haves and have-nots in China, a trend that could bring social tensions and undermine the country’s stronger-than-expected economic recovery. As in the U.S., higher-income earners have for the most part held on to their jobs in China this year, while their stock and property assets kept growing in value. “Like the U.S., the recovery in China follows a K-shaped trajectory,” said Tommy Wu, a Hong Kong-based senior economist at Oxford Economics. His family’s lone breadwinner, with sons aged 29 and 23, he used to earn as much as $590 a month making shoe soles, counting overtime. The company owner hasn’t been able to pay several months of salary owed to him, even though production resumed last month.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 21, 2020 12:04 UTC