Premier Zhu Rongji said in Beijing today that the government increased the incomes of urban dwellers with low and medium level incomes last year, which benefited over 84 million people across the country.

At the opening meeting of the Third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), he said that the living standards of both urban and rural residents continued to improve in the past year. The level of the basic cost of living allowances for laid-off state enterprise workers, the level of unemployment insurance benefits, and the level of subsistence allowances for urban residents were all increased by 30 percent. The salaries and wages of employees working in government departments and institutions and old-age pensions for those retired from there were increased along with the old-age pensions for workers retired from state-owned enterprises, Zhu said. All back pension entitlements were paid for workers retired from state- owned enterprises covered by the overall state plan. Total budgetary expenditures were increased by more than 54 billion yuan to cover these items, which benefited over 84 million people in China, he said.

The per-capita disposable income of urban residents rose by 9.3 percent over the previous year in real terms after adjusting for price decreases, he noted. The per-capita net income of rural dwellers rose by 3.8 percent in real terms, and the population below the poverty line decreased by 8 million.

The number of legal holidays was increased, and this stimulated consumption and improved the quality of people's life, he said.