Extract from :
International Labour Conference
Provisional Record Eightieth Session, Geneva, 1993
Tenth sitting, 8 June 1993
Original Chinese: Mr. LI (Minister of Labour, China) First of all please allow me to express my warm congratulations to the President on his elec tion. I would also like to congratulate the two Vice- Presidents on their election. I am convinced that their talents and experience will lead this session of the Conference to a successful conclusion.
In many countries of the world today, slow eco- nomic growth has led to increasingly serious.prob- lems of unemployment and poverty. In order to alle- viate the social consequences of high unemployment and deprivation and to safeguard the personal in- terests of working people, countries are seeking ways and means to establish and improve a social security system. This has become a major issue of widespread concern in the field of labour at the international level. The Report of the Director-General takes So- cial insurance and social protection as the theme of this session of the Conference. This, I believe, con- forms with the needs and desire of the member States.
China is currently intensifying its economic struc- tural reform. We are actively seeking to establish a socialist market economy and, in line with such an economic structure, a social security system with Chi- nese characteristics. China's social security system was established at the beginning of the 1950s and developed into an all-embracing system. By the end of 1992, about 210 million workers and their families
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Appendix II
around the country had benefited from this system to varying degrees. In 1992. the total insurance and wel- fare expenditure in the country was 131 billion yuan. In recent years, we have carried out a series of re- forms to improve the social insurance system and have had remarkable results. Firstly, we have estab- lished an old-age insurance system with basic old-age insurance supplemented by enterprise insurance. Ba- sic old-age insurance is compulsory according to State legislation and is financed jointly by the State enterprise and the individual. At present. enterprises in China have established old-age insurance funds at the county, city or provincial level for the purpose of mutual assistance and have, following pay rises for the workers. introduced a system whereby workers contribute part of their wage to old-age insurance. In addition, supplementary old-age insurance is offered by some enterprises out of their own resources. Fur- thermore, after learning from the experience of other countries we are now trying to reform the cal- culation and distribution methods of old-age pen- sions to bring more tangible benefits to the workers. Secondly, unemployment insurance has been intro- duced in State-owned enterprises, and a number of centres for retraining and practical self-help have been set up. Thirdly, attempts have been made to reform medical insurance and insurance against oc- cupational injury to broaden the scope of such insur- ance systems so that workers in State-owned and other enterprises may all enjoy equal rights to insur- ance. Fourthly, old-age insurance for farmers has been started in the rural areas on a trial basis. Fifthly, administrative bodies for social security and unem- ployment insurance have been started nationwide with the responsibility of collecting, distributing and managing insurance funds. Now, after summarizing the experience of the trial reform projects, we are working on a new set of regulations on old-age insur- ance for urban workers and on insurance against oc- cupational injury.
The objective of China's reform of its social secu- rity system is gradually to build up by the end of the century a multi-tiered social security system, the cost of which will be shared by the State, units and em- ployees and under which the level of benefits will be linked to employees' income. In the meantime, a uni- fied social security management system will be estab- lished. Our task is to strengthen legislation for social security by putting emphasis on the reform of old- age pension and unemployment benefits, further the reform of occupational injury and medical insurance. and improve the level of socialized management so as to create a favourable environment for enterprises to transform the way in which they operate.
In short, the structure and benefits level of China's social security system will be compatible with the lev- el of its economic and social development. and closely tied to the development of its productive forces and human resources. The active social secu- rity policy pursued in China is both flexible and able to underwrite various risks by providing real guaran. tees. The reform of urban employees' old-age pen- sion system should be integrated with that of the la- bour and wage system. In determining the retirement age, labour resources, the employment situation and the inherent difficulties of a job should be taken into consideration. The level of old-age pension should be commensurate with wages. In rural areas. farm- ers' old-age pension fund will be raised on a volun-