Pension is a major livelihood project. What changes will the reform of the old-age insurance system bring to people's lives? What impact will it have on economic development? With the deepening of aging, can old-age insurance be affordable?
Parallel expansion
Pension reform gnaws at hard bones
The reform of the old-age insurance system is related to everyone's life after old age and has an important impact on economic development.
"Social security is a pillar institutional arrangement for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, and shoulders the great responsibility of safeguarding the long-term stability of the country and the well-being of the people from generation to generation. Endowment insurance is a pillar institutional arrangement in the whole social security system. The reform of endowment insurance is undoubtedly a key and fundamental major reform project in comprehensively deepening reform. " Zheng Gongcheng, president of China Social Security Society, thinks.
How to understand the importance of promoting the reform of endowment insurance system in "giving full play to the traction role of reform"
Zheng Gongcheng said that the traction of the old-age insurance system on economic and social development is mainly reflected in three aspects. The first is to solve the worries of providing for the aged, ensure the quality of life of the elderly, and promote social justice and civilized progress. The second is to optimize the structure and function of the system, balance and moderately reduce the statutory labor costs, and create a fair competitive market environment. The third is to smooth personal income, boost household consumption and continue to help economic growth. "The reform of the old-age insurance system is conducive to benefiting people's livelihood, promoting fairness, stabilizing expectations and helping development. It is not only an important cornerstone for striving for stability, but also an important aspect of striving for Excellence in stability. "
The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee made it clear that to comprehensively deepen reform, a fairer and more sustainable social security system should be established. In the past three years, a number of reform measures in the field of endowment insurance have been introduced, leaving many hard bones.
-A statutory old-age insurance system consisting of basic old-age insurance for government agencies and institutions, basic old-age insurance for enterprise employees and basic old-age insurance for residents was formally formed.
-A new leap has been made in the coverage of old-age insurance. 20 14, the national insurance plan was launched; By the end of September, 2065438+2006, the number of pensioners had reached 240 million.
-The investment mechanism of the endowment insurance fund is clear.
"Recently, the International Social Security Association awarded the China Municipal Government the Outstanding Achievement Award in Social Security, which is an affirmation of the reform and development of the old-age insurance system in recent years." Zheng Gongcheng said.
Accelerate reform
Adhere to unified accounting and constant combination.
The Central Economic Work Conference made it clear that it is necessary to speed up the introduction of the reform plan for the old-age insurance system. This has aroused the imagination of many people: many pension insurance reform measures have been introduced, what other reforms will be made?
"The focus of the next reform is to form a top-level design plan for endowment insurance, promote the transformation of the endowment insurance system from a single breakthrough to an overall optimization, and finally make the endowment insurance system mature and stereotyped." Zheng Gongcheng said.
What should the top-level design of endowment insurance revolve around? Zheng Gongcheng said that the basic content should include at least five parts. First, the development goal is clear, that is, the endowment insurance should pursue the unity of the system, balance the burden of responsibility, ensure an appropriate level, improve the multi-layer structure, and safeguard fairness and justice. The second is to determine the multi-level architecture and its functional orientation. That is, on the basis of basic old-age insurance, supplemented by enterprise annuity or occupational annuity, we will actively develop commercial insurance and establish a multi-level security system. The third is to balance the burden of the responsible subject, that is, the burden of the government, employers and insured individuals is relatively balanced, while gradually reducing the contribution rate of employers. The fourth is to realize the national overall planning of basic pensions as soon as possible, and fully reflect social equity with a higher level of social overall planning. The fifth is to design a reasonable transition plan to provide operational basis for achieving the top-level design goals.
Basic endowment insurance is the main body and foundation of the whole endowment insurance system. For some time, it has been controversial what kind of system the basic old-age insurance should adopt and whether it should be adjusted in this round of reform. "Striving for progress in stability is the general tone of current economic work, and it should also be the general tone of deepening the reform of the endowment insurance system. China implements a basic old-age insurance system that combines social pooling with individual accounts, and this will not change. The idea of advocating a large account or a full account system does not conform to the common sense and laws of the statutory pension insurance system, and will only lead to institutional alienation. " Zheng Gongcheng said.
It is understood that China's old-age insurance has implemented the system of combining social pooling with individual accounts since the 1990s, adopting the traditional mode of * * * shared by the state, units and individuals in fund raising, implementing the social * * * economy, and emphasizing the incentive factors of individual accounts in pension planning and payment. After more than 20 years of development, the system runs smoothly and orderly, and the overall effect is good. Deepening the reform of the old-age insurance system will further improve the personal account system, but the premise of adhering to the basic old-age insurance system of unified accounts has not changed.
handle with ease
Realizing national overall planning through reform
China is accelerating its entry into an aging society. According to the data of the sixth census, in 20 10, there were 65,438+77 million elderly people over 60 in China, accounting for 13.26% of the total population. The public is highly concerned about endowment insurance, especially about possible risks. Especially in the past two years, statements such as "old-age insurance is not insured, and half provinces rely on financial subsidies" and "the gap of old-age insurance fund is widening" appear from time to time, which makes the insured more nervous.
Is the endowment insurance system reliable? How will the reform enhance the sustainability of endowment insurance?
"Aging does bring great challenges to the pension insurance system, but it is not insurmountable." Zheng Gongcheng explained that the reliability of the old-age insurance system does not depend on the amount of funds in one place at a time, but on whether the responsibility sharing mechanism is reasonable and whether the system can be fine-tuned according to the changes in population structure. The accumulated balance of five social insurance funds in China is 5.9 trillion yuan, of which the accumulated balance of pension funds is about 4 trillion yuan. The National Social Security Fund Council also manages a strategic reserve fund of about 2 trillion yuan. These data show that the endowment insurance fund is in good condition. In addition, there are more than 200 million young and middle-aged workers in China, which should be included in the basic old-age insurance. The average retirement age of employees is about 54 years old, and there is huge room for the development of secondary and tertiary endowment insurance. These factors are very conducive to the sustainability of the old-age insurance system.
Zheng Gongcheng believes that it is necessary to clarify three misunderstandings about the old-age insurance system.
-Should the finance subsidize the pension expenditure? "The answer is undoubtedly yes. This is not only an international practice, but also a normal way to ensure that the elderly can share the fruits of national development reasonably. We can explore financial subsidies, but we can't deny the statutory subsidy obligations that government finance should bear on the pension system. "
-Does the current income and expenditure gap in some areas inevitably lead to overall risks? The answer is no, this is only the result of regional division and overall planning of the old-age insurance system at present, and national overall planning should be realized through reform in the future.
-Will China's old-age insurance system be unsustainable? "This pessimistic view is unfounded. The old-age insurance system in many countries, including Germany, adopts the pay-as-you-go system, which is developing steadily and continuously. China has trillions of strategic reserve funds and accumulated surplus funds, and there is still huge room for policy regulation. As long as we accelerate the pace of reform and build a multi-level old-age insurance system, we will certainly achieve sustainable development. " Zheng Gongcheng believes that the endowment insurance in China is a trustworthy and reliable institutional arrangement. With the advancement of reform, the old-age insurance system can not only provide stable and safe pension expectations for all, but also make positive contributions to the healthy and sustainable development of the whole economy and society.
Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.