Social Security (PR China)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The PRC social insurance was introduced in the 1990s and consists of five branches, namely pension, health, accident, unemployment and maternity insurance. Social security is compulsory for urban workers. For the rural population there is voluntary social insurance for the risks of illness and old age. A social insurance law in 2010 created the legal basis for all branches of insurance; however, there are numerous local experiments, so that no uniform picture emerges. There are plans to introduce long-term care insurance .

Historical background

During the transformation from a communist planned economy to a socialist market economy, the establishment of a social security system became necessary, since under the planned economy employees of state-owned companies were only socially protected through their employers without making their own contributions. Workers from other forms of business and the entire rural population received only rudimentary social benefits. The social insurance was a pure business insurance . The main goals of the restructuring were to expand the group of insured persons, to relieve the state-owned companies and thus the state treasury, to create a social insurance system that is independent of the company in order to make the labor market more flexible and to give the state-owned companies more opportunities for competitiveness, which they can gain from excessive social security Costs were denied.

Pension insurance

In principle, the PR China pursues a three-pillar model in pension insurance . The old-age insurance should consist of a state and a company pension insurance and a private supplementary insurance. The concept for state pension insurance is a mixture of funded and pay-as-you-go systems . The employer pays an amount of around 20% of the wage bill, which can vary locally, for the pay-as-you-go system into a kind of solidarity fund and the employee pays his contribution of 8% of his wages bill to an individual account which is administered by the state. but is in principle the property of the insured. In old age, the insured person then receives 20% of the local monthly average wage and the 120th part of his savings from the individual account per month. After ten years of pension receipt, the second part should be paid through interest income . The part that is saved on the individual account is under state administration and is often used to cover financial bottlenecks in the solidarity funds, which are organized on a pay-as-you-go basis. The insured person must have made contributions for 15 years and have reached retirement age in order to receive a pension . The qualifying period of 15 years can also be achieved through voluntary contributions. The current retirement age is 60 years for men and 50 for women workers and 55 years for academics.

Health insurance

In principle, the health insurance system is designed in a similar way to that of pension insurance. The employer pays around 10% of the wage bill into so-called solidarity funds and to an individual account of the employee, and the employee's contribution of 1% goes to individual accounts. As part of the state health insurance, the insured receives services in certain hospitals, pharmacies and doctors who conclude contracts with the health insurance carriers. In the event of illness, he will be reimbursed a percentage of the costs. For this purpose, lists of recognized diseases and drugs are published by the state. With the passing of the Social Insurance Act in 2010, a benefit in kind principle was introduced into health insurance, ie the insured no longer needs to pay in advance. Which services are covered by the individual account and which are covered by the solidarity fund is regulated differently in the individual provinces, autonomous regions and cities directly under the government.

After the introduction of health insurance for employees, it turned out that certain groups of people were not insured at all, such as B. Students, children and self-employed. Voluntary cooperative medical health care was introduced for these people, in which half of the contributions are paid by the state and which is structured like statutory health insurance for employees. Benefits are granted for serious illnesses. The government's goal is to have the entire population integrated into health care by 2020, although this does not fully reimburse all benefits.

Accident insurance

The accident insurance is financed by the company alone. The amount varies according to the level of risk and is approximately 1% of the wage bill. In the event of an insured event, ie an occupational accident, an occupational disease or a commuting accident, insured employees receive reimbursement of medical expenses and a pension in the event of disability.

unemployment insurance

With the reform of the state-owned enterprises and the change towards a socialist market economy, the phenomenon of unemployment actually exists in China. According to official figures, the number of unemployed has remained constant for years at around 4% of the workable urban population, but this number does not even come close to expressing the actual situation, as this is only about the registered urban unemployed. This calculation does not include those released from state-owned companies (Xiagangren), as they still officially have a working relationship with the corresponding state-owned companies, as well as unregistered persons. According to unofficial information, the national unemployment rate is said to have long since exceeded 10% or 15%.

According to the respective legal provisions of the provinces, employers currently pay between 0.8% and 3% and employees about 1% of the wage bill into unemployment insurance. The funds of this insurance are used for: unemployment benefits, sickness subsidies while receiving unemployment benefits, funeral subsidies and survivors' pensions in the event of the death of the recipient of unemployment benefit, for subsidies for the costs of job placement and training and for other benefits determined by the State Council .

Maternity insurance

Maternity insurance is financed by the company and is approximately 1% of the total wages of the workforce, depending on local regulations. Women receive financial support during maternity and childbirth.

Social security agreement

A social security agreement has existed between Germany and the PR China since 2001 .

further reading

  • Anne J. Braun: The end of cheap work in China: Labor rights, social protection and business support for informal workers. Springer-Verlag, 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schmitt, Stefanie: Large range of social security contributions in China. Complex and regularly changing system of regionally different contribution rates. gtai , 2018, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d China's Social Security System. China Labor Bulletin , 2016, accessed February 13, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Liu Dongmei / Darimont, Barbara: The health care system of the Republic of China: between privatization and public health care. In: International Social Security Review, Vol. 66, pp. 97 ff. 2013, accessed on February 13, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Lee, Felix: China relies on state health insurance. Zeit Online, April 21, 2015, accessed February 11, 2019 .
  5. ^ Mueller, Armin: China's New Public Health Insurance: Challenges to Health Reforms and the New Rural Co-operative Medical System . Routledge , 2016, ISBN 978-1-138-63906-5 , pp. 212 .
  6. ↑ Cheng, Yanyuan / Darimont, Barbara: Occupational Accident Insurance Reform and Legislation in China. In: International Social Security Review, Vol. 58. 2005, accessed February 13, 2019 .
  7. ↑ 李彪: 我国 首次 公布 调查 失业率 ： 5% 仍 合理 可控. September 10, 2013, accessed February 13, 2019 (Chinese).
  8. ↑ Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China on social insurance of July 12, 2001. 2001, accessed February 13, 2019 .