#精品长文创作季#
Nowadays, many local cities on the mainland are experiencing financial crises, which is already news that most people know. The impact of this local financial crisis is relatively large.
For example, many local infrastructure projects have been put on hold for the time being. The state has also issued 1,000 billion yuan of ultra-long-term treasury bonds.
It wants to replace land bonds with ultra-long-term government bonds, help various localities solve problems, and further develop urban infrastructure. In such a situation, there are also some experts who have raised a question. It is entirely possible to save financial expenditures by streamlining the public service and reducing the salaries of civil servants. So why doesn't the state do this?
First, the causes of the local financial crisis are very special
First, let's look at why so many local sectors are in financial crisis. There are very special reasons for this, and in order to understand this, we must first talk about the basic structure of the mainland's local finances.
In the past 20 years, most of the cities in China have achieved great development. There are some cities that have become science and technology cities, industrial cities, innovation cities, or education cities, tourism cities, etc., each with its own label.
But in general, most cities rely most on land finance in the process of development. Because the land finance has the greatest benefits, and the money comes in the fastest.
For example, if you want to become a city of science and technology and innovation, you must work hard to improve the education system, develop the science and technology industry, and introduce technology companies. The cost and time required for this is astronomical.
And many cities do not have such preparation time and do not have such sufficient conditions.
For industrial cities, it is now an era when traditional industries are not very popular, so almost all old industrial cities have development difficulties. For example, Shanxi, Hebei and the three eastern provinces on the mainland, these traditional heavy industry bases have basically not developed rapidly.
However, cities in various places must be developed, so land finance came into being. Because compared to other methods, land finance is indeed more simple.
In the stage of rapid development of real estate, each place only needs to package and sell the land in its own hands to real estate companies for development. You will be able to get enough money from real estate companies to upgrade infrastructure and develop the economy.
Under this structure of land finance, the mainland's infrastructure level has developed by leaps and bounds. It only took us 20 years to build a large number of them at the infrastructure level. The fact that a world-class city is a testament to the importance of land finance to China's development.
But land finance also has its own problem, that is, it is too dependent on real estate agents. When the real estate market is relatively stable, local departments can use the sale of land and the transfer of land to obtain a steady stream of funds, but the real estate market will sooner or later fall back.
For example, in the past two years, the real estate market has been sluggish and a large number of real estate companies have gone bankrupt, and the land accumulated in their hands cannot be sold. If the land cannot be sold, the fiscal revenue will drop sharply.
However, in order to develop economic development and urban construction, many local departments owed debts, and these debts were about to mature. So, how do you pay off these debts now? This has become a mountain that weighs on all cities that have not established new industrial lines.
Finally, it also forced the state to start a series of reforms to optimize the debt of the local sector and help them solve the crisis. It is also in this context that it has been suggested that the problem can be solved by streamlining the civil service team and reducing the salaries of civil servants. But in reality, this is not desirable.
Second, the civil service cannot be attacked
There are two reasons why it is not possible to cut the salaries of civil servants and to streamline the civil service team. The first is that the current civil service is not saturated.
The mainland is a country with a population of 1.4 billion, and although the population is now growing negatively, the size of the population is there after all, so the demand for civil servants in China is astronomical. We need to have a large number of civil servants to maintain the stability of the administrative system and do things for the people.
If the number of civil servants decreases, it means that the administrative efficiency of certain departments will be reduced. Sometimes, this reduction in administrative efficiency has a very fatal impact on the lives of ordinary people.
For example, if the housing authority only has one or two staff members, there are dozens or hundreds of people who go to handle business every day. So how long do the people in the back have to queue up to get on the business?
It is precisely because of the unsaturation of this civil service that the state has been in recent years. Instead of streamlining the civil service, more civil servants have been released to recruit civil servants. The standards for civil servants have even been relaxed, and some older people have been able to go ashore by taking public examinations.
Moreover, in the stage of rapid economic transformation, many people cannot find a relatively suitable job, so the civil service has become the most important safe haven in everyone's hearts. Every year, the number of people taking the civil service exam is increasing, and everyone hopes to get an iron job.
In such a situation, if the state reduces the number of civil servants recruited, it will lead to many people pouring into society again, or taking the civil service examination continuously. This can have an impact on their quality of life.
Therefore, the state cannot streamline its public service, at least not now. The civil service has sheltered millions of young people who have just graduated and are unable to find a job.
And it is even more impossible to reduce the salaries of civil servants. In fact, the overall salary level of civil servants on the mainland is not high.
Many people go to become civil servants, not because they pay attention to how high the salary of civil servants is, but because the jobs of civil servants are relatively stable. If you do a similar job every day, you have the possibility of promotion, as long as you can do your job. Moreover, the various benefits of civil servants are also relatively good.
Some units will give subsidies for house purchases, there will be better medical conditions, and even some better units will have their own hospitals. And to be a civil servant to ensure income in drought and flood, because the department will not go out of business.
However, if there are some economic problems or economic transformation, then there is a possibility that the private enterprise will go bankrupt. Employees who work in the private sector lose their jobs, but this is not the case for civil servants.
In the three years of the pandemic, many people have lost their jobs, but I have never heard of any civil servants who will be unemployed. Even if they don't work, these civil servants can get a full salary every month, and they can also get some targeted subsidies.
This stability is the fundamental reason why many people will flock to the civil service. The stability of the civil service is there.
However, in fact, the overall salary level of civil servants is far inferior to that of private enterprises. After all, civil servants are public officials who serve the people, and in order to ensure a balanced distribution of social resources, the salary level of many civil servants on the mainland is far lower than the world average.
For example, some middle- and high-ranking civil servants in the United States can receive a salary of more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. However, on the mainland, even some high-ranking officials at the department and bureau level can only receive a salary of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan and subsidies if they bring various subsidies a year.
On the other hand, the middle and senior managers of large private enterprises on the mainland earn an annual salary of one million or 10 million yuan at every turn. Cuts were also made to civil servants whose salaries were not high as a whole. No matter how you look at it, it's a bit of putting the cart before the horse.
Even if there is a wage cut, it should be those private companies that reduce the wages of middle and senior managers. Pay more to regular employees.
Third, the local fiscal crisis will be resolved sooner or later
However, the state does not consider streamlining the civil service team and does not reduce the salaries of civil servants. It is also because the current land finance problem is not as serious as everyone imagined.
It is true that many local departments have not been able to come up with money for the time being, but the state has been trying to find a way to solve the problem. For example, it has helped some cities to establish new industrial lines, so that some heavy industrial cities can realize transformation, engage in tourism industry, and engage in new industries.
And, in fact, the development strategies that the state is now promoting can also streamline spending. Originally, the mainland attaches the most importance to economic data, as long as the economic data is good, it can be anything, which will cause a serious waste of resources.
Some local departments, in order to come up with better economic data, will provide a lot of financial or policy support to some industries. It is commonly known as flood irrigation.
Today, however, the mainland's economic development strategy has changed from the original pursuit of quantity to the pursuit of quality. What we are asking for now is high-quality development and saving resources and waste as much as possible. Therefore, many local departments on the mainland are at a critical juncture of opening up sources and reducing expenditure.
As various economic reforms are gradually completed, the financial pressure on the local sector will also be reduced. Therefore, we don't need to worry too much about the financial problems of the relevant departments, and the state has made arrangements for this in advance. It is believed that with the gradual implementation of various reform measures, the financial problems of local departments can be smoothly resolved.
Epilogue:
For a long time to come, I am afraid that there will be a large influx of people into the civil service. Because compared with other jobs, civil servants do have a more obvious advantage.
But the civil service exam can't solve all the problems, for example, the salary of civil servants is actually not as high as everyone thinks. Many outstanding university graduates, if they go to work in the private sector after graduation, a few years is enough to achieve the position of middle and low-level managers.
After the age of 30 or 40, you may even become a middle and senior manager of the company, and your annual salary is an astronomical amount. And if you go to work in the civil service, you may find that you have worked for a long time, and your salary is only a fraction of that of your old classmates.
Therefore, not only should the salary level of civil servants not be reduced, but the salary of civil servants should also be raised in a targeted manner. Of course, this is not realistic for a while when the local authorities have financial problems.
It is definitely the trend of the times to strengthen the treatment after that. Because we can't expect all civil servants to serve the people without enough to eat!
References:
Catch entertainment in the sea2024-05-15Whose "hard days" are coming? Finances are getting tighter! The system has always been reluctant to cut salaries and reduce staff
Chunya Financev2023-09-18Most of the people are living a tight life, local finances are tight, why don't civil servants streamline and cut salaries?
Gong Yue2022-11-28 Talk about salary cuts in the system