City dwellers expect pay rises, new jobs in 2006
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-28 06:08

Home appliances and furnishings are also on the shopping list, with about a quarter, or 23.1 per cent, saying they have budgeted for them.

And despite increasingly-choked roads in many cities, one in 10, or 10.1 per cent, want to get a set of wheels.

More will be added to the country's swelling ranks of entrepreneurs 13 per cent plan to start a business in the coming year.

The survey throws up an interesting fact: people once settled in a big city are unlikely to move to another, with only 2.9 per cent planning to do so.

"We also find that respondents are getting more and more upbeat about the future," said an executive of Horizon Group.

The findings showed that Chinese people's outlook confidence index has been on the increase annually since 2002.

On a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 is very pessimistic and 5, very optimistic) the figure this year has risen to 3.86 from 3.80 in 2002.

(China Daily 12/28/2005 page1)