The Guangdong Survey Team has recently carried out a follow-up survey on the income expectation and consumption intention of 830 urban households in 18 cities, counties and districts. The survey finds that their income confidence is at an all-time high while lack of income confidence is on the decline, and that over 45% of the residents are prepared to spend more. In terms of profession, responsible persons of state organs, organisations, enterprises and institutions, professional and technical personnel, and administrative and managerial staff have high income expectation. In terms of sectors, people working in the construction, financial, information, computer services and software industries are optimistic about their income. Survey results indicate that people working in these sectors expect their income to increase by over 50% in 2006.

When asked whether their family plans to increase spending in 2006, 46.4% of the respondents said they plan to spend more, a slight increase of 0.2% over the 2005 survey but lower than the level in previous years. On the other hand, 53.6% of the respondents said they would not be spending more. When respondents who said they plan to spend more were asked what items they intend to increase spending on, 55% gave education as their answer, followed by home appliances, fitness and entertainment, computers, insurance, housing, private cars, telecommunications equipment, investment and motorcycles. While consumption of durable consumer goods has considerable room for expansion, spending on fitness and entertainment is on the rise.