● Since May this year 1, measures related to social security fee reduction have officially landed. Among them, if the unit contribution rate of the basic endowment insurance for urban workers (including the endowment insurance for enterprises, institutions and institutions) is higher than 16%, it can be reduced to 16%.
● After the social security fee is reduced, can the pension obtained be guaranteed? The government work report makes it clear that the basic pension for retirees will continue to be raised moderately this year. Since the basic pension for retirees was raised in 2005, the pension for retirees has continuously increased by 15 years, which has played an important role in improving the life of enterprise retirees and promoting social equity.
At present, China has formulated a series of positive, comprehensive and scientific countermeasures, which can completely guarantee the long-term timely and full payment of pensions. Finally, the pension adjustment mechanism needs to be incorporated into the social insurance law or relevant laws and regulations to ensure the legalization of pension adjustment and stabilize the expectations of retirees.
Our reporter Zhao Li.
Intern Dong Jiaying of our newspaper
Social security fees are related to the burden of enterprises and the vital interests of the public. According to the "Comprehensive Plan for Reducing Social Insurance Rates" (hereinafter referred to as the plan) issued by the General Office of the State Council, the relevant measures for reducing social insurance rates officially landed on May 1 this year.
It is reported that this adjustment not only reduces the unit contribution ratio of basic endowment insurance for urban workers (including basic endowment insurance for enterprises, institutions and institutions, hereinafter referred to as endowment insurance), but also puts forward a number of policies, such as adjusting the social security contribution base, accelerating the provincial-level overall planning of endowment insurance, and improving the central adjustment ratio of endowment insurance funds. According to official data, after the implementation of the plan, it is estimated that the social security payment burden will be reduced by more than 300 billion yuan in 20 19.
Why is it that reducing the pension insurance rate is the key measure? Will the future pension increase slow down? Will the accumulated balance of the basic old-age insurance fund run out? Will the pension adjustment mechanism be legalized? In response to the four major issues of public concern after the social security fee reduction officially landed, the reporter of Legal Daily interviewed industry experts.
Decline in the rate of old-age insurance
The effect of reducing the burden of enterprises is obvious
Since 20 15, China has reduced or phased down the social security rate five times, involving basic old-age insurance, unemployment insurance, industrial injury insurance and maternity insurance for enterprise employees. According to official data, it is estimated that the current phased rate reduction policy will expire from 20 15 to April 30 this year, which will reduce the burden of corporate social security contributions by nearly 500 billion yuan.
In June last year, 1 1, the State Council issued "Several Opinions on Promoting Employment at Present and in the Future", which introduced targeted policies and measures in supporting the stable development of enterprises, encouraging employment and entrepreneurship, actively implementing training, and helping laid-off and unemployed people in time, and played a "combination boxing" to promote employment, in which the rate reduction was linked to stable employment.
Since June 5438+ 10 this year, various ministries and commissions have repeatedly publicly stated that they will reduce the social security rate:
65438+ 10/month 1 1, Minister of Finance Liu Kun said in an interview with the media that he is actively studying and formulating a comprehensive plan to reduce the social insurance premium rate with high market attention, so as to further reduce the social insurance payment burden of enterprises.
65438+1October 13, introduced by Minister Zhang Jinan of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and will work with relevant departments to speed up the research on the implementation plan for enterprises to reduce social security rates.
65438+ 10/5 Xu Hongcai, Assistant Minister of Finance, said at the press conference of the State Council Office on implementing the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference that the Ministry of Finance, together with relevant departments, is actively studying and formulating a comprehensive plan to reduce the social insurance premium rate, so as to further reduce the social insurance payment burden of enterprises. At the same time, clean up and standardize fees and increase the investigation and punishment of arbitrary charges.
Compared with the past, the social security fee reduction proposed in this year's "Program" is obviously greater. You Jun, Vice Minister of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, explained at the the State Council policy briefing on April 4 this year that there are two main measures to directly reduce the social security premium rate in the "Plan" issued this time: First, reduce the contribution rate of pension insurance units. From May 1, the unit contribution rate of basic old-age insurance for urban workers (including endowment insurance for enterprises, institutions and institutions) can be reduced to 16% in provinces where the rate is higher than 16%. Second, the current policy of reducing unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance rates by stages has been postponed for one year until April 30, 2020, which means that unemployment insurance will continue to implement the total rate of 1%, and the rate of work-related injury insurance can continue to be determined according to the accumulated balance of the fund.
According to You Jun, the key measure of these two measures is the relatively large reduction of the contribution ratio of pension insurance units, which is very concerned by enterprises.
"The issue of fee reduction has been discussed for a long time. In the past, the system implemented a nominal rate. What is the actual payment rate? We have done a calculation and found that the situation in different provinces is very different. A basic conclusion is that the lower the rate in economically developed places, the higher the rate in economically underdeveloped places. According to the combination of social wages and fund income, the national average is about 16%, which is a basic judgment. Han Keqing, a professor at Renmin University in China, told the Legal Daily reporter.
In response to these fee reduction measures, some media pointed out in the report that this policy is inclusive and can be enjoyed by all enterprises. It is not a phased policy, but a long-term institutional arrangement, which allows enterprises to have a more stable long-term expectation of the future burden reduction effect.
The reason why there is such a long-term institutional arrangement, Han Keqing believes that one purpose is to reduce labor costs and burdens for enterprises (especially small and medium-sized enterprises). "In fact, as early as a few years ago, Premier Li Keqiang proposed to reduce the social insurance premium rate in stages at the the State Council executive meeting, but this year's efforts are unprecedented. As for the arrangement of so-called small insurance such as work injury insurance and unemployment insurance, it is also a continuous measure. "
Pensions continue to rise 15 years.
The growth rate slowed down.
It is worth noting that since the State Council decided to raise the basic pension for retirees in 2005, the pension for retirees has increased by 15 years.
In this regard, Gemee, an associate researcher at the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of China Academy of Social Sciences, believes that it is certainly a good thing to raise the basic pension level of 1 5 years for nearly1100 million retirees. After all, the adjustment of pension benefits is an important way for retirees to enjoy economic development.
Lu Quan, Secretary-General of China Social Security Society and Associate Professor of School of Labor and Personnel, Renmin University of China, agrees that raising the basic pension 15 years has played an important role in improving the life of enterprise retirees and promoting social equity.
Some people worry that the pension obtained after the social security fee reduction can still be guaranteed? In response to this public query, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security Minister Zhang Jinan replied during the two sessions this year, "We can clearly tell you that we have the ability to ensure that pensions are paid in full and on time. The government work report also made it clear that this year we will continue to moderately increase the basic pension for retirees. "
In fact, there are already signs that the pension for enterprise retirees will be raised again this year. As early as June 5438+ 10, Qiu Xiaoping, Vice Minister of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said that in 20 18, the accumulated balance of the national basic old-age insurance fund for employees was nearly 5 trillion yuan, with a considerable scale and strong supporting capacity.
However, it is worth noting that some media surveys have found that the increase in pensions has slowed down since 20 16.
In an interview with the media, Dong Dengxin, a core member of the 50-member Forum on China's Pension Finance and director of the Institute of Financial Securities of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said that in order to reduce the pressure on the income and expenditure of pension funds, the growth rate of pensions in the future should be gradually slowed down to meet the increase of CPI. The annual increase of pension is 10%, which is impossible to happen again in the future, and even it is difficult to maintain an annual increase of 5% in the last two or three years. It may be normal to maintain the annual growth level of pensions at 2% and 3% in the future.
In this regard, Han Keqing believes: "This is not easy to judge, because the adjustment of pensions is influenced and restricted by many factors. As for whether it is slowing down or increasing, it needs to be comprehensively judged from the macro level according to the actual situation. "
"At the beginning, the growth rate was 10%, because our pension had not been adjusted before 10, but prices were rising. Until 20 16, the growth rate began to slow down. Now the speed of pension increase is roughly equivalent to the speed of price increase, and I don't think it will be lower. " In the interview, Tang Jun, a researcher at the Social Policy Research Center of China Academy of Social Sciences, said.
The balance of the social security fund is not much.
Do not worry about the official response.
Recently, the World Social Security Research Center of China Academy of Social Sciences reported that the national basic endowment insurance fund for urban enterprise employees will have accumulated balance in 2035.
At the same time, the Green Paper on Social Security: Report on the Development of Social Security in China (20 19) holds that "China has not established a normal pension adjustment mechanism. Although the pension system has different attributes, it is uniformly adjusted. In the future, as newcomers gradually step into retirement, the pressure on payment of benefits will gradually increase. In addition, there is no corresponding longevity risk resolution mechanism in the system. Without reform, the risk of fund payment will accumulate in the future. China's current adjustment method neither considers the long-term sustainability of the fund nor ignores the cost burden of the aging population in the future.
"The content of the report may be true, but it is problematic to judge the risk of the old-age insurance system only by this fact. Because it is calculated purely on the basis of actuarial science, actuarial science and insurance are related, but social insurance is not insurance, and social insurance is a form of insurance. Social insurance is a national system, and actuarial is necessary, but it is not the only standard. " Tang Jun analyzed that insurance is different from social insurance, and the subject matter of insurance is a certain amount, regardless of the factors of rising prices; Social insurance guarantees the basic life, and the basic living standard should be adjusted with the rise of prices, not a fixed figure. "So actuarial science can only be used as a reference for social insurance, because there are many uncertain factors that cannot be calculated by actuarial science."
Tang Jun added that judging from the development trend of social insurance in the world, it is definitely not enough to only consider how much money to collect and how much to pay. In most countries, the old-age insurance takes the form of pay-as-you-go, so savings are not considered. "I will collect as much as I expect to pay this year, so that I can basically make ends meet."
On April 23, Nie Mingjuan, director of the Pension Insurance Department of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, responded that at present, China has formulated a series of positive, comprehensive and scientific countermeasures, which can completely guarantee the long-term timely and full payment of pensions.
In an interview with the reporter of Legal Daily, Han Keqing also disagreed with the judgment that "the accumulated balance will be exhausted". "Because the old-age insurance system is not only self-balanced and self-operated, but also called social insurance, and there is also a national responsibility in it. Specifically, it is the factor of state financial subsidies. " Han Keqing said.
"The purpose of our fee reduction is to improve the system, including improving the collection system of social insurance, increasing the collection efforts, promoting national overall planning, allowing social insurance funds to have more balances, and maximizing the self-balance and self-operation of social insurance." Han Keqing believes that even some later top-level designs are aimed at making the old-age insurance system more sustainable and fairer, and making the existing system go further. "I think this series of supporting systems are closely related, including the actual payment base, and the collection of social insurance tax passed by the State Council last year. Although the rate has dropped, the income of social insurance funds will not necessarily decrease. "
Establish a pension adjustment mechanism
It is expected to be included in social insurance law.
In fact, as early as 2005, when the State Council announced the Decision on Improving the Basic Old-age Insurance System for Enterprise Employees, it called for "establishing a normal adjustment mechanism for basic pensions".
At the end of July, 2007, when the State Council held an executive meeting, he stressed that it is necessary to establish and improve the normal adjustment mechanism of basic pensions, actively develop enterprise annuities and commercial insurance, and form a long-term mechanism to improve the overall level of pension insurance for enterprise retirees.
20 10- 10, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) deliberated and passed the social insurance law, which is the first comprehensive social insurance law in China, but unfortunately, it does not stipulate the normal adjustment mechanism of the basic pension for enterprise retirees.
Eight years later, the normal adjustment mechanism of basic pension began to be established.
2065438+March 2008, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance issued "Guiding Opinions on Establishing the Mechanism for Determining the Basic Old-age Insurance Benefits for Urban and Rural Residents and Normal Adjustment of Basic Pensions", which made it clear that the pensions of retirees will be adjusted in a timely manner according to the wage increase and price changes of employees in the future.
However, Gemee believes that these are not enough, and the pension adjustment mechanism will eventually need to be incorporated into the Social Insurance Law or relevant laws and regulations to ensure the legality of pension adjustment and stabilize the expectations of retirees. "The pension adjustment mechanism suitable for China's economic and social development needs a process of gradual maturity and improvement."
"It seems that the social insurance law has not been rebuilt, but social insurance should be improved with the improvement of prices and people's living standards. At present, we are doing the same. I agree to incorporate the pension adjustment mechanism into the social insurance law. " Tang Jun said that at present, there are three things to be done to improve the establishment of China's pension adjustment mechanism. First, don't scare people, because saving money alone can't solve the financial problem; Second, to open up new sources of funds, it is definitely not enough to rely solely on the contributions of units and individuals; Third, the basic goal of social insurance, especially old-age insurance, is not how much money to pay a month, but to ensure basic living, so it must be adjusted.
"It is best to have a clear and reasonable adjustment method, so that everyone has a stable expectation. We have seen foreign data show that there is a very clear numerical calculation, including how much you pay each year and how much pension you receive after retirement. " For example, Han Keqing said, "How old am I to pay insurance? How much can I get after retirement? If everyone knows what it is, it is a positive factor for the individual's payment motivation or the operation of the whole system. "
"Now we may still be restricted by some factors, and we can't be so detailed, but it should be a basic trend of system development to let the people have a clear expectation as much as possible." Han Keqing said.
Regarding how to establish a pension adjustment mechanism that is compatible with China's economic and social development, Han Keqing believes: "The first is whether our system can work well, which is a basic premise. The initial goal of system design is to realize a self-balanced and self-running system. Whether calculating pension benefits according to DB or DC, don't forget your active thinking, and the system's own treatment commitment is the main body. Coupled with financial subsidies and economic changes, referring to the formulation and adjustment methods of other policy standards, it is related to the level of economic development and the income level of residents. In this case, the formulation and adjustment of pensions will be more reasonable. "