On December 29, the National Financial Work Conference was held.

It was clearly stated at the meeting that a proactive fiscal policy will be implemented in 2023, and fiscal policy must be intensified to improve efficiency.

In particular, we must actively support key areas such as basic people's livelihood.

Pension adjustment for retirees is an important part of people's livelihood, and I believe it can be supported more effectively.

The "Social Insurance Law" stipulates that the state shall establish a normal adjustment mechanism for basic pensions and increase the level of basic pension insurance benefits in a timely manner based on employee wage growth and price increases.

From the first to the third quarter of 2022, wage income in per capita disposable income increased by 5.1%, and the consumer price index increased by 2.0%.

The basic employee pension insurance fund has a cumulative balance of more than 5.2 trillion yuan, as well as 10% of the equity of state-owned enterprises. The social security fund also has 2.5 trillion yuan of social security fund equity.

From 2005 to 2022, the basic pension of retirees has increased for 18 consecutive years. I believe that the pension increase in 2023 is also a certainty.

Everyone knows that there are differences in pension levels between enterprise retirees and retirees from government agencies and institutions.

An important purpose of pension adjustment is to narrow everyone’s income gap.

Some netizens suggested that it would not work if corporate retirees received an increase of 600 yuan and government agencies and institutions received an increase of 200 yuan. To be honest, it really does not work.

First, this has exceeded the affordability of the pension insurance fund.

Although pensions are said to be increasing every year, the extent of adjustments in recent years has indeed been on a downward trend.

The increase from 2008 to 2015 was 10%, and in 2016 it was 6.5%.

The increases in 2021 and 2022 will only be 4.5% and 4%.

Even if the increase in 2023 is only 4%, the per capita pension increase will only be about 140 to 150 yuan.

If government agencies and institutions see an increase of 200 yuan, corporate retirees will even have to see an increase of 600 yuan, which is equivalent to an average pension increase of more than 10% to 15%.

After all, this part of the benefits is not a one-time benefit. It will continue to increase on the existing basis in the future, which has exceeded the affordability of the pension insurance fund.

Second, it is inconsistent with the adjustment plans over the years, and the changes are so big that it is difficult for many people to adapt.

In the past, pension adjustment plans were generally divided into three methods: fixed adjustment, linked adjustment, and appropriate tilt.

Quota adjustment means that everyone adds the same amount of money, and implements the principle of fairness.

Linking adjustments are divided into linking based on payment years and linking based on pension levels.

Appropriate care is given to the elderly and retired elderly in difficult and remote areas.

Different groups of people have different needs, and they all hope that their own interests will be greater. If the previous adjustment plan is suddenly cancelled, more people will want to tilt it to their own advantage.

Third, it has caused social imbalance and made it more difficult to collect social security funds.

Many people now have a minimum base payment of 15 years, and their pension is only more than 1,000 yuan.

If an increase of 600 yuan is given to them all at once, it will exceed their entire payment results in two years. Will anyone still be willing to choose high base payment and long-term payment? In the past, because the more you paid, the more you got, and the more you paid over the long term, you got more.

With the incentive mechanism, many workers will stand with the state and require their companies to pay social security.

But when paying social security reduces the income of workers and does not generate much high pensions, which side will the workers stand on? In this case, the cost of collecting national social insurance premiums will be greatly increased.

Therefore, the pension adjustment plan is unlikely to drastically narrow the income gap.

A smaller form is possible.

For example, part of Beijing's adjustment plan is to increase pensions by 50 yuan in 2022 for those whose pensions are below 6,250 yuan, and to increase by 20 yuan for those above 6,250 yuan.

In addition, Henan Province will add an additional 20 yuan to the elderly whose pension is 1,000 yuan in 2021.

Small adjustments like this have little impact, and many people are still willing to accept them.