01-13-2016, 10:28 AM
Collecting some more factoids
For non-employed persons in both urban and rural areas, the Social Insurance Law provides for a similar basic pension plan that requires residents to pay contributions into an individual account for at least 15 years before becoming eligible for a pension on retirement. The fund is subsidized by the government but monthly pay-outs, especially in rural areas, are generally very low.
One of the biggest problems with the current pension system in China is the statutory retirement age; 60-years-old for men and 50-years-old for women workers in enterprises, 55-years-old for women civil servants. These limits were established in the 1950s and are widely acknowledged by policy makers to be no longer realistic in a country where the average life-expectancy is now 75 and there are already about 200 million people over the age of 60. Government officials have stated openly that the retirement age will have to rise if the pension system is to be sustainable in the long-term. An increase of five years for both men and women is the most likely increase but no definitive plans have been put in place yet. The government’s procrastination on this issue is largely due to popular opposition from workers who understand how difficult it is to get a job in their 50s. See Employment in China for more details. In order to gain more popular support for an increase in the retirement age, employers will have to adopt much more flexible attitudes towards elderly workers and the government will have to reconsider what are the optimal pension contribution rates for both employers and employees.
On unemployment insurance:
Both workers and their employers pay into the unemployment insurance system, usually at rates of one and two percent respectively. Workers are eligible for benefits, including continuation of medical insurance, in the event that they become unemployed. The duration of benefits depends on the length of time the employee has paid into the system, with a maximum of 24 months of benefits for those who have been employed for ten years or more. Although employee contributions are based on salary, the benefits paid out are very low. The 1999 Regulations state that unemployment benefits must be lower than the local minimum wage, which is already set at a very low level and can in no way be considered a living wage.