China
Publications
Situation and Priorities
Social protection situation
China’s social security system has undergone a comprehensive overhaul since the 1980s, making significant progress in building a system that covers all social protection branches and has achieved universal legal coverage of old-age pension and health insurance within a relatively short time period.However many challenges still remain: China has increasing numbers of urban residents and an ageing population. The social protection system can be described as legally unified but administratively fragmented, which results in portability problems for workers moving across provinces. A major concern is how to integrate different social security schemes thus providing a universal social protection system for rural and urban workers. Many workers and their families, within the large informal economy and the growing gig economy, which includes flexible and migrant workers(or both), remain outside basic insurance schemes.
COVID-19 and other crises
Social protection was an indispensable mechanism for delivering support to individuals during the crisis. The measures taken by the Government of China include:- Expanding coverage of unemployment benefits by relaxing eligibility criteria: there were 2.3 million beneficiaries in the first quarter of 2020, although as many as 50-80 million people had not yet returned to work or had lost their job.
- The benefit level of the social pension and the poverty allowance (Dibao) was increased.
- Social security contributions were waived for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Government and social partner priorities
- The Government of China (GOC) adopted the Directive on Reforming and Improving the Social Assistance System in August 2020. Two stages and specific objectives are laid out for the first time: In approximately two years, the GOC aims to build a tiered and classified social assistance system with Chinese characteristics for both urban and rural areas, with a comprehensive legal framework.
- Expand the coverage of the unemployment insurance system: 196 million were legally covered in 2019, compared to a labour force of 800 million.
- Improve the delivery of social protection services through the use of digital technologies.
- Enhance the public health system and provide more equitable and high-quality education.
- Eliminate rural poverty by end of 2020: the GOC has reduced poverty from 10.6% to 0.6% since 2012.
ILO Projects and Programmes
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Improving China's institutional capacity towards universal social protection (Phase 2)
01.02.2023 - 31.01.2026 USD 1,562,194 European Union
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Country envelopes 2023 global project – Accelerating progress on HIV and AIDS and ending inequalities in the world of work
01.01.2023 - 31.12.2024 USD 890,196 UNAIDS
Results
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MOHRSS adopted the National Action Plan on Digital Human Resources and Social Security Services in June 2023. It aims to build an integrated, digitalized and intelligent system that supports the modernization of the governance system and governance capa...
2023 CHN302
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1)China started implementation of the private pensions in April 2022, marking a milestone in establishing a multi-tier pension system. The new mechanism characterized by policy support (tax incentives), voluntary participation and market-oriented operat...
2022 CHN302
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A new policy measure on safeguarding the labour rights and interets of workers in new employment forms has been issued
2021 CHN302
News and Events
Workspaces
ILO Experts
Kenichi Hirose
Senior Specialist, Social Protection
Rubén Vicente
Project Manager
Qingyi Li
National Social Protection Officer
Buyuan Zhang
Project Asst
Jie Zhou
National Project Coordinator