In all kinds of historical materials, there are also stories that newspapers carrying the Labor Insurance Regulations were snapped up, employees of enterprises organized waist drum teams to report good news, and workers turned over their pension savings to the government to support the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

At present, few people know that the origin of the new China pension system is in the northeast. Fifty years later, it was precisely on this land that when the state-owned enterprises were reformed in the late 199s, the problem of providing for the aged triggered various social contradictions.

during the war of liberation, the northeast was the first area to be included in the territory of China's * * * production party. In 1948, on the basis of experiments in Harbin and other places, the labor insurance system was gradually implemented in the liberated areas, starting from seven major industries, such as railways, posts and telecommunications, mines, military industry and textiles, according to the Regulations on Temporary Labor Insurance for Public Enterprises in Northeast China (hereinafter referred to as the Northeast Regulations) issued by the Sixth National Labor Conference.

The word "labor insurance" was "created" by Li Lisan, then secretary of the Workers' Sports Committee of Northeast Bureau, and was later inherited in China instead of the world-wide "social insurance". Li Lisan, who led the workers' movement, was also the main founder of the new China labor insurance system.

Xia Boguang, a reporter from China Social Security magazine who has verified this story, told Southern Weekend reporter that the "Northeast Regulations" refer to the social insurance model of the Soviet Union, and Li Lisan's Soviet wife also assisted in translating many materials at that time.

according to the "northeast regulations", all public enterprises should pay 3% of the total wages on a monthly basis, 3% of which will be deposited in the bank designated by the government as the general labor insurance fund, and the rest will be kept in the enterprise for labor insurance expenses. In addition, the payment of pensions is "3%-6% of my salary according to the length of service".

An interesting episode is that when the Northeast Regulations were formulated, there was a debate about whether workers needed to pay fees. The earliest draft of the Northeast Regulations actually required workers to "pay five thousandths of their wages". A document obtained by Xia Boguang records the report of Dongbeiju to the Central Committee, and mentions that "many comrades, especially those in lower-level enterprises, think that it is better not to pay workers", on the grounds that it is more politically significant for the insurance premium to be borne entirely by the state, and at the same time, they are worried that it is "too much" for workers to pay both public expenses and labor insurance fees. Later, this request was supported by the central government and the payment terms were removed.

At that time, in an editorial of Northeast Daily, "workers don't pay fees" like the Soviet Union was greatly praised as the superiority of a socialist country. The article also criticized capitalist countries that "social insurance is handled by the government or special bureaucratic institutions, and bureaucrats often spend huge sums of money from insurance money to support them, or even use it to embezzle and enrich themselves, so that a large number of workers have sweated into the pockets of these bureaucrats".

In p>1949, on the eve of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Political Consultative Conference was held and the same program was issued, and "gradually implementing the labor insurance system" was written into it.

After the founding of New China, Li Lisan, then Minister of Labor of the Central Committee, took the lead in drafting the Labor Insurance Regulations, which was promulgated by the State Council (predecessor of the State Council) in early 1951. This was the only social security regulation in China in the 6 years before the promulgation of the Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China in 21.

according to the regulations, the pension is included in the labor insurance fund system for overall consideration-the enterprise draws the labor insurance fund on a monthly basis according to 3% of the total wages, of which 7% is retained by the grass-roots trade union of the enterprise to pay for various security expenses such as the old-age care and medical care for employees, and 3% is turned over to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions for overall planning. Retired workers get a pension of 35%-6% of their original salary (increased to 5%-7% in 1953) from the labor insurance fund according to their length of service.

At that time, the Regulations on Labor Insurance was regarded as a victory in leading the people to overthrow the three mountains, and it was warmly supported. Hao Yu, who used to work in the Labor Insurance Bureau of the Ministry of Labor, later wrote an article to record a detail. When the draft was solicited, a working group sent to Shanghai read out the contents of the regulations to textile women workers, and there was an excited sobbing from below. A female worker stood up and said, "I really didn't expect such a good thing. The * * * production party is the savior of the people."

In all kinds of historical materials, there are also stories that newspapers carrying the Labor Insurance Regulations were snapped up, employees of enterprises organized waist drum teams to report good news, and workers turned over their pension savings to the government to support the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. At that time, a popular jingle was: "socialism is good, and there is labor insurance in sickness and death."

However, the regulations only apply to employees of enterprises, and the pensions of personnel of government agencies and institutions are paid by the state treasury. In the mid-195s, the State Council issued a document stipulating that the pensions of government agencies and institutions should be 5%-8% of the wages, and those who made "special contributions" could be higher, which was generally higher than the treatment level of employees in enterprises, and once "caused influence among the masses".

what has been forgotten by the world is that as early as then, the central government was "considering" how to "merge" the security systems of these two groups, including the old-age care.

In p>1957, Zhou Enlai said at the third enlarged meeting of the Eighth Central Committee that the All-China Federation of Trade Unions suggested that administrative organs and institutions should implement a unified labor insurance system with enterprises in order to "reduce contradictions among employees" and "the proposal should be decided after the State Council convened relevant departments to study".

However, when the State Council introduced the policy the following year, it only unified the retirement treatment standards for both of them, and the pension was adjusted to 4%-7% of the salary. But this is only a superficial convergence of treatment, and the two groups still belong to two sets of funding source systems.

Ma Wenrui, then Minister of Labor, once stated in People's Daily that "it is planned to make appropriate amendments to the regulations in the near future according to the new situation and experience ... and it will also be implemented in state organs and institutions."

A former cadre of the Ministry of Labor, Yun Wusheng, wrote an article revealing that before the Cultural Revolution, the Ministry of Labor had included the above contents in a draft amendment to the regulations to be submitted, but it was strongly opposed by "some departments".

Since then, the political movements such as the Great Leap Forward, the anti-Right Deviation and the Cultural Revolution in China have come to nothing.

Regarding the pension system during the planned economy period in China, Feng Jin, a professor at the School of Economics of Fudan University, told Southern Weekend that the profit and loss of enterprises at that time were also part of the national finance, and there was no essential difference in any operation mode. In many subsequent academic papers, this model was called "national insurance".

Enterprise reform forces social co-ordination

In the history of New China, individuals have become one of the payers of old-age insurance for the first time, and the old-age insurance system has begun to move in the direction of being shared by individuals, enterprises and the state.

In p>1982, the Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee passed the decision of economic system reform, and the first priority at that time was to push state-owned enterprises to the market. However, just after the water, the problem of old-age care has caught the state-owned enterprises.

the book "The Story of * * * and China" records that some old enterprises such as textile, grain and salt industry have retirement expenses accounting for more than 5% of the total wages, and some even exceed the total wages. Some enterprises have suffered serious losses, and their pensions have been reduced or stopped, which often leads to petitions, strikes and even suicides of retired employees. The contradiction of uneven burden between new and old enterprises is very prominent.

In addition, the prosperity of collective enterprises, the emergence of enterprise contract employment mode, the introduction of foreign-funded enterprises and other new economic forms have also made a large number of people unable to be covered by the original pension system.

"The old-age insurance reform was originally forced by the enterprise reform." Feng Jin said.

Many people objected to the name "labor insurance" in the planned economy period, so the concept of social insurance began to take its place.

However, the new mode of providing for the aged was actually the first to appear in collective enterprises, which was also the "meaning" of the State Council Economic Restructuring Office at that time. In Shanghai in 1982, the insurance company tried to co-ordinate the pension annuity for employees of collective enterprises, that is, enterprises paid insurance premiums to the insurance company according to the profit, and employees received pensions from the insurance company after retirement. This practice soon expanded to collective enterprises across the country.

Subsequently, under the guidance of the Ministry of Labor and Personnel's "Social Planning of Retirement Expenses", in 1984, Taizhou, Jiangmen, Dongguan, Zigong and other places where the situation was relatively severe or the actual demand was urgent began to pilot similar practices, and then gradually expanded. The "Seventh Five-Year Plan" drawn up the following year clearly stated that units owned by the whole people should gradually implement the social pooling of employee retirement fees.

In 1986, the State Council issued a number of documents to reform the labor system, which was also a milestone in China's reform and opening up, and was called "breaking the iron rice bowl" among the people.

Zhao Dongwan, then Minister of Labor and Personnel, told Southern Weekend reporter that this is an important guarantee condition for implementing the labor contract system, dismissing employees who violate discipline and solving related problems after the bankruptcy of enterprises, but it is only a "insignificant" beginning for establishing and implementing the old-age insurance system.

According to the regulations, enterprises and contract workers should pay retirement pension funds at the level of 15% of their wages, and the proportion of individual contributions should not exceed 3%. This money will be paid to the special account of the local competent labor department to earn deposit interest, and the workers will be paid monthly pension fees after retirement. The payment method is based on the provisions of 1978, and the state will give appropriate subsidies when it is insufficient.

In this way, in the history of new China, individuals have become one of the contributors of the old-age insurance for the first time, and the old-age insurance system has begun to move in the direction of being shared by individuals, enterprises and the state. Southern Weekend reporters consulted the implementation documents of many provinces at that time, and most of them immediately used the policy to set the individual contribution ratio at 3%.

in p>1991, the State Council promulgated an outline of the "decision on the reform of the old-age insurance system for enterprise employees", which was the first major decision on the old-age insurance after the reform and opening up.

It is worth noting that the decision proposes that individuals should pay 3% of their wages and "gradually increase with the development of economy and the adjustment of employees' wages".

Tracing back to the source of "empty account"

At the beginning of the implementation of the unified account-account combination model, in order to cope with the pension expenses of the "old people", it is bound to misappropriate the personal account funds of the new payment groups, resulting in the personal account becoming "empty account" and bringing great risks to future generations.

Since the late 198s, the choice of the direction for the reform of the old-age insurance system in China has been entangled in a question: whether to set up a personal account or not.

At that time, the "personal account" model, represented by the old-age insurance systems in Chile and Singapore, was attracting worldwide attention. As the name implies, a personal account is set up for each payer, and the pension insurance premiums paid by individuals and enterprises are put in their own accounts. These funds will be invested and preserved by the corresponding management institutions, and the money inside will be used to pay their own pensions after retirement.

Theoretically, this method of providing for the aged by oneself can solve the problem that the pay-as-you-go system cannot cope with the aging population. Previously, whether it was the labor insurance system in the early days of the founding of New China or the overall social reform in the 198s, the corresponding management agencies collected pension insurance money from enterprises and even non-retired employees on the one hand, and used it to pay the pensions of retired employees in that year, which was called "pay-as-you-go system" by the academic circles.

In China, some departments and scholars, represented by the Commission for Economic Restructuring, have called for the introduction of personal account model. Since the early 199s, with the assistance of foreign experts, the Commission for Restructuring the Economy has worked out a plan to introduce personal accounts, and started to pilot it in Shenzhen and Hainan, the "special zones".

In p>1993, the Third Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee "Decision on Several Issues Concerning the Establishment of the Socialist Market Economic System" clearly stipulated the practice of introducing personal accounts on the basis of overall social planning. The current endowment insurance model starts from here, which is called "unified account combination", that is, the combination of overall planning and personal account.

Since then, the question of whether the personal account funds account for a large or small proportion of the payment has become the focus of controversy. Finally, in the policy issued by the State Council in 1995, we had to include two schemes: making it bigger (16%) and making it smaller (1%), so that all provinces and cities could choose for themselves. The former is called the plan of the commission for restructuring the economy, while the latter is called the plan of the Ministry of Labor.

according to historical records, on the basis of these two schemes, the proportion of payment varies from place to place, and hundreds of small schemes have been derived from the whole country at one time. In some provincial and municipal plans found by Southern Weekend reporters, the proportion of personal accounts ranges from 4% to 17%.

in the autumn of 1997, the State Council had to unify the local standards: individual accounts were established at 11% of employees' wages, of which 8% were paid by individuals and 3% by enterprises. In areas where individuals could not reach the proportion, the difference was borne by enterprises first, and then gradually increased, and the proportion paid by enterprises did not exceed 2% of employees' wages. This means that the original proportion of individual contributions of 3% should be greatly increased.

but the unavoidable problem in the reform is, who will bear the transformation cost? In other words, before the implementation of this system, what to do with the pension of those who rely on the pay-as-you-go system, which was also a main reason given by opponents represented by the Ministry of Labor at that time. According to the calculations made by the World Bank, the Commission for Restructuring the Economy and the Ministry of Labor in 1995, the cost ranged from 1 trillion to 3 trillion at the current price, and the highest cost may account for nearly 7% of China's GDP in 1994.

With reference to the reform experience of Chile and other countries, the pension of this stock group should be raised by the finance separately, which is a principle generally recognized by the academic circles in China. Gao Shusheng, who once participated in the social security reform in the State Council Economic Restructuring Office, vividly called it "the old system is closed".

In order to solve this problem, in the first half of 199s, economists such as Wu Jinglian and Zhou Xiaochuan, the overall design research group of China's economic system reform, had designed plans such as "cutting up a piece" of state-owned assets and issuing bonds, but none of them were adopted later. Wu Jinglian said in "Contemporary China Economic Reform" that it was "opposed by some government functional departments", and the reason for the opposition was that the state did not owe debts to the old workers.

An expert from the State Council's decision-making advisory body emphasized to Southern Weekend reporter that the central government was in financial difficulties in the 199s, and after the tax-sharing reform, it gradually became stronger after years of accumulation. At that time, the overall efficiency of state-owned enterprises was not good, and many of them were still struggling to extricate themselves from difficulties, so they did not have the realistic conditions to completely cut out the old system.

The official idea is to use the new system to digest old problems. Liu Zhifeng, deputy director of the Commission for Restructuring the Economy, has publicly stated that it is not important for individual employees whether there is money in the account before it is used. What is important is to pay it within the prescribed time limit. The problem of empty accounts is because employees have not accumulated in advance in the 4 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China and need to be gradually digested by intergenerational transfer.

As a result, at the beginning of the implementation of the unified account model, in order to cope with the pension expenses of the "old people", it is bound to misappropriate the funds of the personal accounts of the new payment groups, resulting in the personal accounts becoming "empty accounts" and bringing great risks to future generations. By 1999, the scale of misappropriated personal accounts, that is, empty accounts, had exceeded 1 billion, and the Ministry of Finance and other departments also protested.

At that time, the State Council Development Research Center emphasized in a report that "the core of the problem lies in trying to avoid the government responsibility left over from the old system".

In the late 199s, there were state-owned enterprises in China, which were laid off and diverted for three years, and the financial crisis spread abroad, and a large number of state-owned enterprises suddenly appeared in the three northeastern provinces and other regions.