The system reform providing for the aged of shiye danwei keeps up with that of enterprises, and the pension will reduce sharply.

Ms. Chen Lihua, who works for a school in Guangdong province for over 30 years, will retire on schedule on May this year; however, she is fidgeting about whether she should apply for an early retirement at present.

On the 28^th December of last year, when she start work in the morning, a friend who worked together told her that a reform of pension for all the shiye danwei in Guangdong province may carried out in 2009. And this information made Ms. Chen feel worried, because she should have been qualified a retirement pay of 1300 yuan per month according to the policy at that time. But once calculating the pension through the new way, there will be a sharp reducing of it.

In fact, the system reform of pension of shiye danwei at selected plot has been issued formally, including Shanxi province, Shanghai, Zhejiang province, Guangdong province and Chongqing. Yesterday, Mr. Yi Chengji, official spokesperson of Human Resources and Social Security Department (HRSSD), told China Business News that the State Council of China required the five selected provinces starting this reform from this year. He also indicated that it could also bring out the system of enterprises and shiye danwei dovetail. And the scheme would focus on the problem of the big gap of pension between these two types of institutes.

Heavy load on finance

One of the principle reasons that push the government reform the pension and security system is the heavy load on finance, which is due to the fast rising salaries, and the great number of employees in the recent years. Until the end of 2005, the shiye danwei was amounting to 1.25 million, dealing with a wide range of fields such as education, agriculture, radio and TV channels, and press and publication. The total number of employess had been already over 30 million, which is 4.3 times as civil servants, taking up nearly 80% of number of people that provided by the government. Besides, the total amount of pension that supported by government was only 5.95 billion yuan in 1990, but now it far exceeds hundred of billion which is over 20 times.

In the mean time, it shows that the earning difference of retirees from enterprises and shiye danwei is in a trend of widening. Although the basic pensions for retirees from enterprises is marking up continuously, the average number which amount to 1080 yuan is still far below that of shiye danwei’s standard.

It is reported that the new scheme at the selected spots will be identical to the enterprises; therefore, it would lead to a lower treatment to the shiye danwei employees with no doubt. 

ps. shiye danwei means nonprofit units that have no administrative, allocative, or regulatory authorities beyond their own organizational boundaries, such as newspapers, research institutes, and hospitals.