Government-sponsored pensions vital: survey

Most of the people polled in a recent survey believe that government-sponsored pensions are vital, but less than 30 percent are satisfied with the current pensions level.

About 66 percent of the urban residents polled think that pensions are important to guarantee a dignified life for the elderly, according to the results of the survey released by Guangzhou Public Opinion Research Center on Tuesday.

The center interviewed more than 5,000 residents via phone calls in 693 cities and counties around the country in September.

Only 28 percent of the respondents are satisfied with the current pensions level, while 27 percent said that they are unsatisfied. Meanwhile, in first and second-tier cities, as much as 34 percent said that they are not happy with their pensions.

Yue Jinglun, a professor of public administration from the Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said that senior residents should not rely too much on pensions from the government for their retirement.

In addition to raising children to provide against old age, many Chinese elderly still have the traditional mindset of relying too much on government departments and their work units for their retirement.

Yue said the government should further boost investment to build homes for the aged, medical clinics and community facilities for the elderly to let them be properly cared for after retirement, when the pensions from the government are not able to meet expectations.

He added that the pensions should reach 80 percent of the individual's monthly salary before retirement, if the elderly want to enjoy their golden years.

Now only some civil servants and senior executives of State-owned companies can reach that goal after retirement, he said.

Many ordinary workers have very low pensions after retirement, he added.

Zheng Zizhen, former dean of the Sociology and Population Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, called for a State pension plus a commercial insurance system to allow senior citizens to enjoy their remaining years.

"The State pension should be a floor figure that is only enough for the elderly to eat and buy clothes, but it should cover as many people as possible," Zheng said.

"Senior citizens who have pensions from the government should still buy commercial insurance to increase their incomes if they want to have a better life after they retire," Zheng said.

The government will not be able to increase the pensions for the urban residents by a significant amount when many farmers still have very low pensions, he added.