Insecurity about social security biggest concern

BEIJING - Social security tops the concerns of Chinese people ahead of the coming annual sessions of the country's top legislature and political advisory body.

Their concerns over social security topped hot topics such as inflation and housing prices, according to a survey conducted by people.com.cn.

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The poll found that among more than 95,300 respondents, 95 percent believed the current pension system is unreasonable and many suggested a quick reform to ensure its equity and fairness.

China's dual pension system, introduced in the early 1990s, allows civil servants to enjoy higher pensions than enterprise employees do after retirement.

Enterprise employees have a certain proportion of money deducted from their monthly income to form part of their pension fund. But civil servants and staff members of institutions affiliated to the government do not have such a deduction and their pensions are fully paid for by government.

A netizen who participated in the online survey said the dual system is the biggest inequity in income distribution. He criticized how pensions for civil servants average two to three times those of enterprise employees.

Dai Hao, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, said to abolish the unfair dual pension system is one of the proposals he will make during the session, which begins on Thursday in the capital.

"A large disparity of pensions between the two groups of people would greatly harm social stability," Dai was quoted by the eeo.com.cn, a economic and business news portal, as saying on Tuesday.

Only once an equal, fair and transparent pension system is established can citizens really feel relieved and potential social problems be resolved, he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao admitted that the dual pension system was "not reasonable" during an online chat with netizens on Sunday.

The country has raised the pension standards of enterprise employees for seven consecutive years, but their pensions are still not high, only around 1,500 yuan ($230) in average a month, he said.

To address the problem, Wen said, the government will continue to raise pension standards for enterprise employees.

He also suggested that enterprises that have set up retirement annuities could spare some money to subsidize the retired.

Wen said some trial programs will be carried out, if conditions permit, to reform the civil servant pension mechanism, and build a more "normal" national pension system.

Zheng Gongcheng, a social security expert with Renmin University of China, said at a seminar briefing on Sunday that "to unify the dual pension system may stir social conflicts because it would harm some people's interests".

Zheng suggested that a more effective way is to narrow the pension gap between different groups of people.

Lin Zhifen, a professor with the School of Public Administration at Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, said on Monday that more expenditure of the government budget on social security is a key means to narrow the gap.

She said the country's financial authorities promised to spend 25 percent of the budget on social security during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period.

Currently, 10 percent of the government budget is spent on social security, the Economic Observer reported.