Under the original planned economy system, the basic characteristics of China's urban social security system (hereinafter referred to as social security system mainly involves cities and towns, generally excluding rural areas) are that enterprises, especially state-owned enterprises, take full responsibility for medical care, old-age care and poverty alleviation for employees; All expenses of the enterprise in employee safety and security are included in the operating cost. At present, the main direction of reform is to change the lifelong employment system into a labor contract system that can flow freely. Through market competition, the security guarantee such as medical care and old-age care undertaken by enterprises will be transferred to the security guarantee system managed by the society as a whole, and the full responsibility of enterprises for all security guarantee expenses of their employees will be changed to the social security fund jointly paid by enterprises and individuals, and the social pooling system will be responsible for issuing personal security benefits to employees. As a developing country and a populous country, the current social security system in China can only take "low water and wide coverage" as the basic principle. Starting from 1998, the basic meaning of this "low level" is to ensure the basic source of life for urban families.
From 65438 to 0999, the focus of China's social security system was to ensure that the living expenses of laid-off workers were paid in full and on time. Government finance is still the main source of funds to achieve this guarantee goal. Among them, the central government directly invested 25.5 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 65.438+098 yuan. By the end of 1999, there were more than1/kloc-0.9 million laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises, of which more than 4.5 million were re-employed, and about 6.5 million were laid off by the end of the year. By the end of 1999, 93% of laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises had entered the re-employment service center, and 90% of laid-off workers had received basic living expenses. 94.33 million employees and more than 29 million retirees participated in the basic old-age insurance. More than 99 million people participated in unemployment insurance; 2 1 10,000 employees and retirees participated in the overall planning of medical expenses for serious illness and retirees, and the basic medical insurance system was reformed in some areas. 1999 basically realized the timely and full payment of pensions. In the whole year, more than 80 billion yuan of pensions were paid to enterprise retirees, and the rate of timely and full payment reached over 98%. In the whole year, more than 654.38+0.2 billion yuan of pensions owed by state-owned enterprises in the previous period were paid back, of which 5.3 billion yuan was raised by local governments and 7.6 billion yuan was supported by the central government.
From June, 65438 to July, 0999, China government issued a policy to increase the income of low-and middle-income residents in cities and towns. By June 65438+1 October1,the treatment level of 6 million laid-off workers, more than 800,000 unemployed people and more than 27 million enterprise retirees will be adjusted accordingly. The basic living standard for laid-off workers in state-owned enterprises will be increased by 86 yuan, unemployment insurance will be increased by 44 yuan, enterprise retirees will be increased by 145 yuan, and retirees will be increased by 60 yuan.
From 65438 to 0999, excluding laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises, the registered unemployment rate in cities and towns in China remained at around 3. 1%. In accordance with the requirements of improving the market employment mechanism, 100 urban labor market construction pilot projects have been launched nationwide, and 45 cities have initially realized the computer networking of urban labor markets. Labor and social security departments at all levels actively implemented the "three-year 10 million" reemployment training plan, providing vocational guidance and training for 3.9 million laid-off workers. Entrepreneurship training has also been piloted in 30 cities across the country and achieved certain results.
From 65438 to 0999, the State Council issued the Unemployment Insurance Regulations, which pointed out the development direction and provided a legal basis for improving the unemployment insurance system. By the end of 1999, the number of employees participating in unemployment insurance in China had reached more than 99 million, an increase of19 million over the previous year, which was the largest coverage in the past years. The annual income of the unemployment insurance fund was more than 6,543.8 billion yuan, and the fund's affordability was significantly enhanced. At the end of the year, more than10 million unemployed people received unemployment benefits every month.
With regard to the medical insurance system, according to the State Council's decision on establishing the basic medical insurance system for urban workers, the relevant departments have formulated six supporting documents, including designated medical institutions, designated pharmacies, medication management, diagnosis and treatment projects, service facilities standards and settlement methods, and basically established a new medical insurance system that meets the requirements of the market economy. Twenty-four provinces across the country have issued overall plans for the reform of the medical insurance system, and 3 15 overall planning areas above the prefecture level have formulated specific implementation plans, accounting for 90% of the total.
In terms of social welfare, at the end of 1999, there were1080,000 beds in various social welfare institutions nationwide, and 80 million people were adopted. There are 1.8 million community service facilities in cities and towns, including 6572 community service centers. All 667 cities and 1682 counties in China have established the minimum living security system, and a total of 5.257 million people have received the minimum living security relief. In the whole year, we sold 96,543.8 billion yuan of social welfare lottery tickets, raised 2 billion yuan of social welfare funds and accepted 600 million yuan of social donations.
Second, the main difficulties in the development of the Tenth Five-Year Plan.
1. "Laid-off" people are classified as unemployed people in general society, and the unemployment insurance fund may have a deficit in revenue and expenditure.
During the period of 1997, a large number of rich state-owned enterprises emerged, and China adopted a transitional policy in the process of system transition, that is, setting up a "re-employment service center" for laid-off workers. Rich people in state-owned enterprises can have three years to retrain their labor skills and find new jobs after leaving their jobs. In these three years, these employees who have lost their jobs cannot terminate their labor relations with enterprises, and enterprises and the government still have to pay their living expenses. During this period, the number of laid-off workers is not included in the social unemployed population, and their living expenses are not borne by the social unemployment insurance fund.
However, since 2000, according to the initial policy period, laid-off workers who have received living expenses for three years but have not found a job need to terminate their labor relations with their original enterprises, and their living security is paid by the social unemployment insurance fund. In 2000, the number of laid-off workers who have terminated their labor relations with enterprises will reach 5 million. This figure is close to1China registered unemployed population (6.7 million) at the end of 1999.
1997, there were 603,000 units that paid unemployment insurance funds nationwide, and the total number of people participating in unemployment insurance was 796 1 10,000, accounting for 45% of the urban employees177,050 in the same period. By the end of 1997, the accumulated balance of the unemployment insurance fund was 9.7 billion yuan. As "laid-off" workers will soon be included in the general unemployment insurance coverage, from 1999 to 1, the payment standard of unemployment insurance will be raised from 1% of the total wages of enterprise employees to 3%. From 65438 to 0998, the total expenditure of China unemployment insurance fund was 5 billion yuan, including 2 billion yuan for unemployment relief, 70 million yuan for medical assistance, 760,000 yuan for funeral expenses, 3 million yuan for pension, 660 million yuan for job-changing training, 65.438+0.97 billion yuan for others and 400 million yuan for management fees. A total of 6.5438+0.58 million people received unemployment benefits, and the per capita unemployment relief level was 654.38+0.29 1 yuan. 1999, the number of employees participating in unemployment insurance nationwide reached 99 million, an increase of 1998. The income of the unemployment insurance fund in that year was125.2 billion yuan, an increase of 5.68 billion yuan over 1998. The fund expenditure in that year was 910.60 billion yuan. Among them, the unemployment insurance premium is 3.27 billion yuan, and the part used for medical assistance, funeral subsidies and pensions is 65.438+0.42 billion yuan. In that year, the fund saved 3.362 billion yuan, with accumulated savings of 65.438+59.85 billion yuan.
According to the price and wage level, the per capita assistance level may reach 1400 yuan in 2000. If the "laid-off" workers in cities and towns changed jobs and 5 million people registered as unemployed in 2000, the expenditure of the unemployment insurance fund will increase by at least 7 billion yuan. Judging from the income and expenditure of the unemployment insurance fund in 1999, in 2000, China's social unemployment insurance fund may start to show a large income and expenditure deficit.
2. Pay-as-you-go pension fund system may be difficult to maintain for a long time.
From 65438 to 0999, the income of China's national endowment insurance fund was191200 million yuan, and the expenditure was 192485 million yuan, with a balance of 4.026 billion yuan in that year. China's accumulated savings amounted to 73.3 billion yuan. However, there is a serious imbalance between regions. The accumulated savings of the seven coastal provinces with high economic development are 45.476 billion yuan, accounting for 62% of the total savings in China. At the same time, there are still 16 provinces that cannot make ends meet. Based on the payment level of 1999, at present, the accumulated savings of China's pension insurance fund is only enough to pay for 5.06 months of pension, which is less than 1998/0.72 months. 199 The national pension rate was 93.25%, which was 3.0 1 percentage point higher than that of198. From 65438 to 0999, the national average monthly retirement fee was 494 yuan. The ratio of paid endowment insurance premium to paid salary in that year was 2 1.56%.
At present, China's old-age insurance system has only been implemented since 1997. According to this system, employees' pension will be composed of two parts, one is personal account pension, which will be financed according to 1 1% of employees' salary, of which enterprises will bear 3% and individuals will pay 8%. After retirement, it will be paid monthly according to the accumulated total amount/120; The other part of the basic pension is equivalent to 20% of the average salary of employees in the overall planning area, and the financing still follows the pay-as-you-go model, and the enterprise pays 5% of the total salary. At present, the biggest problem corresponding to this system is that there is no advance payment accumulation in the personal account pension of retirees and on-the-job employees who have joined the work before the implementation of the new system. These people's pensions can only rely on pay-as-you-go pension funds. Before the implementation of the new system, these people have deducted their pensions from their wages, and the deducted part was used as investment under the original state-owned economic system. This is the problem of enterprises' payment to pension funds and hidden liabilities in the process of China's system transition.
In this case, China has long adopted the method of raising the overall rate of enterprises, expecting to gradually digest hidden debts. The challenge faced by this reform plan is that the current enterprises should not only accumulate pensions for employees under the new system, but also provide funds for unpaid personal accounts under the original system, which has formed a serious double burden. It is predicted that if enterprises fully bear this double burden, the contribution rate of China enterprises to the pension insurance fund will continue to be as high as 35% from 2000 to 2030. This is obviously unbearable for enterprises.
Judging from the current scholars' discussion, China's main thinking to deal with this challenge focuses on three options. (1) Sell some state-owned assets and supplement individual pension accounts with realized income of state-owned assets. (2) issue ultra-long-term treasury bonds with a term of 20 to 30 years, and supplement individual pension accounts with the proceeds from the issuance of financial bonds. (3) Introduce new taxes, such as interest tax, and designate the income from the new tax to supplement the insufficient pension income. In fact, these three schemes may need to be adopted at the same time to deal with the possible pension insurance payment crisis.
3. Poor business conditions make it impossible to collect premiums in full.
Another problem faced by the old-age insurance system in China is that the old-age insurance funds are not completely collected due to the poor operating conditions of state-owned enterprises. Some loss-making enterprises are unable to pay or refuse to pay in various ways. From 65438 to 0998, the collection rate in some areas (the proportion of actual collection amount to the amount to be collected) even dropped to 50-60%. There is a shortage of pensions in many areas, which leads to more and more arrears of pensions. Relevant statistical results show that by the end of March 1998, the national pension arrears for retirees were 4.679 billion yuan, involving 2.83 million retirees; Nearly 5,000 enterprises owe more than 654.38+0.7 billion yuan in old-age insurance premiums, and the amount owed is 654.38+0.7 billion yuan; Nearly 200 enterprises owe more than RMB 10, accounting for 48% of the arrears in the same period. By the end of 1998, the national endowment insurance premium was 35.9 billion yuan. This situation has not been effectively reversed in 1999. Judging from the situation in 2000, due to the improvement of market conditions, this unpaid situation is expected to improve. But in general, the problem that the old-age insurance premium cannot be recovered will exist for a long time.
4. With the accelerated arrival of an aging society, the social security system is under pressure to increase the contribution rate.
The biggest challenge facing the old-age security system in China is the accelerated arrival of an aging society. The statistical results show that from 199 1 to 1996, the number of employees participating in pension pooling increased by 4.3% annually, and the number of retirees receiving pensions increased by 9.0% annually. The burden coefficient of employees who participated in the overall planning for the aged increased from 0.2 1.99 1 to 0.26+0. 1.996. Judging from the future situation, this trend will further intensify. The contribution rate to meet the needs of middle-aged and elderly workers will be further improved. This is likely to lead to a vicious circle: the payment rate of enterprises is getting higher and higher, and more enterprises are unable to pay or refuse to pay. In order to maintain the expenditure pressure, it is necessary to further increase the payment rate until the collection crisis finally occurs. At present, China's elderly population over 60 years old exceeds 654.38+26 million, accounting for more than 654.38+00% of the total population. By 2025, the elderly population will reach 280 million, accounting for 654.38+08% of the total population, and will reach more than 400 million by 2050.
5. The management, preservation and appreciation of social security funds have not yet found a perfect solution.
At present, a long-term problem in China's social security system is the lack of safe and effective investment methods for insurance funds. Judging from the development process, China's social wage level has risen rapidly, so the payment of endowment insurance will continue to increase. If inflation is taken into account, personal accounts
The funds accumulated by families urgently need safe, stable and high-yield investment methods to preserve and increase their value. Before 1999, China's insurance funds could only be used for bank savings or investment in government bonds. Since 1996, China's one-year savings deposit interest rate has been lowered from 10.98% to a historical low of 2.25%, and the debt interest has also been lowered accordingly. The income from saving or investing in national debt is negligible. In 2000, insurance funds were allowed to enter the securities investment market, but in order to avoid risks, they could only invest in "securities investment funds" in the market, not directly invest in stocks. In this case, insurance funds lack channels to obtain investment income, and actually face great future payment risks. Recently, many scholars and personnel of insurance fund management institutions in China are calling for China to allow insurance funds to directly enter the stock market to encourage the development of investment-oriented insurance products, instead of indirectly investing by purchasing securities investment funds. It is estimated that in the near future, insurance funds, including government-controlled social insurance funds and commercial insurance funds, may be allowed to enter the stock investment field.
Third, the main policy outlook
In March 2000, Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council put forward six policies and measures to establish and improve the social security system in his government work report at the Third Session of the Ninth National People's Congress. Among them, the first is to adhere to and improve the "three lines of defense" system of basic living security for laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises, unemployment insurance and minimum living security for urban residents. Enterprise re-employment centers should pay basic living expenses to laid-off workers on time and in full, and pay social insurance benefits such as pension, unemployment and medical care on their behalf. Second, the insufficient funds raised by enterprises and society should be guaranteed by finance. The central government will continue to give support to the central and western regions and old industrial bases with practical difficulties. Third, all localities should strengthen the supervision of social security funds, strictly implement the management of "two lines of revenue and expenditure" to ensure earmarking. Fourth, it is necessary to expand the coverage of social insurance and increase the collection rate of insurance premiums according to law. Compulsory implementation of social insurance focusing on old-age care, unemployment and medical care in cities and towns. Fifth, the central and local budgets should appropriately adjust the expenditure structure and increase the proportion of social security expenditure. Sixth, take various measures to speed up the construction of the labor market, so that laid-off workers will gradually be guaranteed their basic livelihood by the enterprise re-employment service center, and will be transferred to enjoy unemployment insurance and work in the labor market.
At present, the main objectives and specific measures to improve China's social security system in 2000 and beyond will focus on the following aspects.
1. realize social pension payment
An important reform measure in the early stage of China's old-age security is that all basic old-age insurance funds are transferred from industries to local management. In the early days of reform and opening up in the 1980s, we reformed the pension paid by enterprises into overall planning by industry. However, the industry's self-contained management system is difficult to achieve a wider range of risk sharing. Moreover, the pension insurance benefits of similar people in the same area are high or low, which also affects people's social fairness expectations. Since September 1998, the basic old-age insurance has been transferred from the industry as a whole to the local provincial social insurance agency for management. That is, local unified planning is implemented. The old-age insurance funds of nine industries and banks as a whole were all managed locally. On the basis of local overall planning, from 65438 to 0999, China began to implement the reform of socialized pension distribution. In other words, the pensions originally paid by enterprises will be directly paid to retirees by social insurance agencies through provincial banks and post offices. This can not only reduce the burden on enterprises, but also protect retirees from some behaviors or economic interests of enterprises, and guarantee their basic livelihood through social pension payment. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, by the end of 199, there were six regions where the socialized pension distribution rate of enterprise retirees reached over 80%: Shanghai 100%, Fujian 9 1.4%, Shandong 89%, Shaanxi 84%, Yunnan 83.6% and Chongqing 80.8. In the middle of 2000, the separation of retirees from enterprises, institutions and institutions, socialized pension distribution and community management services for retirees will be widely promoted nationwide.
2. Strengthen pension collection and management.
In 2000, the number of enterprise retirees will increase by 2 million; The total will reach more than 3 1 10,000, and the annual pension expenditure is expected to reach more than 200 billion yuan. In order to ensure the timely and full payment of pensions, we need to take further effective measures to strengthen the raising of pension funds and open up new financing channels. We should focus on monitoring areas and enterprises that have repeatedly defaulted in the past. Due to historical reasons, the basic pension arrears, the relevant responsible institutions and enterprises should be reissued as soon as possible. In strengthening the collection and payment of pension funds, enterprises that are in arrears with normal production and operation and can pay wages normally should be recovered from each household; Units that have the financial ability to refuse to pay back the money must resolutely rely on legal means to collect fees. Strive to achieve an annual collection rate of over 90% by the end of 2000.
3. Expand social insurance coverage.
Another key task in 2000 is to make a new breakthrough in expanding the coverage of social insurance and strive to achieve full coverage of urban old-age insurance. Among them, it is necessary to strengthen the work of foreign-invested enterprises, collective enterprises, private enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households. It is estimated that the number of participants in these enterprises will increase by120,000.
4. Increase policy support.
Support the development of social security; June, 5438+October, 2000 10, People's Republic of China (PRC) Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China issued regulations that the interest income obtained from housing provident fund, medical insurance, basic old-age insurance and unemployment insurance deposited in personal bank accounts shall be exempted from personal income tax. On the basis of tax preference, the policies and measures to strengthen the construction of social security system in China in 2000 may also include the following aspects: (1) increasing financial social security expenditure. During the period of 1999 (L- 10), the government's fiscal expenditure on social security increased by 39 1.7% over the same period of last year. In 2000, social security expenditure will continue to increase exponentially, mainly for the unemployed, retirees and other residents in need of relief. (2) Strengthen the collection and payment of social security funds, focus on solving the problem that basic living security and pension, medical care and unemployment security funds are not in place, and strive to expand the coverage of social security. (3) Enrich the social security fund by reducing state-owned shares, transferring the right to use state-owned land or issuing long-term treasury bonds, and take extraordinary measures to make up for the funding gap formed by the state's "hidden debt" to employees in history. In addition, from the current point of view, at least for some laid-off old industrial bases and economically backward areas in the west, central financial subsidies are still necessary. The minimum living allowance is generally included in the local financial budget to support the minimum living guarantee for employees of underdeveloped cities, counties and provincial enterprises in the province.
5. Establish a modern management system
In order to ensure the implementation of the "minimum living security" system, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has developed the "minimum living security management software for urban residents", which is being popularized and applied throughout the country. At present, computer management networks have been initially established in cities above the prefecture level. It is predicted that in the next one to two years, the computer management network will be extended to all counties, cities and districts in China, and finally a national modern network management will be formed.
6. According to local conditions, continue to promote the establishment of the rural minimum living security system.
As a big agricultural country, China's social security can only become a complete basic social system if the existing 800 million farmers are included in the social security network. At present, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has promised to include the minimum living guarantee for rural residents in the important work schedule of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in 2000. The general idea is to adjust measures to local conditions, advance steadily, and not engage in "one size fits all". Where the minimum living security system for rural residents has been established, its management and operation can learn from the management experience of cities to make it more standardized and scientific; Where this system has not been established, we should continue to do a good job in investigation, research and measurement to prepare for future work.
7. Accelerate the reform of the medical security system.
At present, the development of medical insurance system in China lags behind unemployment and old-age insurance. From 65438 to 0999, only 28 provinces (cities) have determined the overall plan of medical insurance system reform. By the end of 1999, the number of people participating in basic medical insurance nationwide was 5.94 million, an increase of 830,000 over 1998. At the same time, 23 provinces carried out social co-ordination of medical expenses for seriously ill and retirees, and the number of participants was 6.5438+0.47 million, an increase of 3.83 million over 654.38+0.998. It is necessary to further strengthen the construction of social medical insurance system in the future. But on the whole, the phenomenon that the development of medical insurance lags behind the development of unemployment and endowment insurance will probably exist for a long time.