Social security slows grads' mobility

Young people on the move face bureaucratic(官僚)hurdles.

EVER since Jing Youliang graduated from Wuhan University in 2003,he's been on the move. In the past four years, the 26-year-old has worked in Guangzhou, Wuhan and now Beijing.

Each of those moves gave Jing a headache - not because of all the packing, but because of the bureaucracy surrounding social security, which includes medical care,persion(养老金)and unemployment.

Moving to another place in China means a lot more than leaving old friends and making new ones. It also requires leaping over(跳过)hurdles that, if ignored, could jeopardize one's future benefits.

"Every time I settle down in a new city, I have to set up a new social security account,"explained Jing, a real estate agent. "When I want to leave, I have to transfer my accoumulated payments to an account in Chongqing, or it may hurt my benefits in the future."

According to the National Bureau of Statistics in 2006, about 147 million Chinese were part of the "floating population". About 52 million of them, or 35 percent, were young people aged 14 to 29.

Source of the problem

Such movement, however necessary for young people trying to settle into a career, can create problems that last long into the future. Social security funds are collected at the city and county level.Because of this, moving from one place to another means that wage-earners can lose some or all of their required investment.

Under the current system, people cannot carry their whole social security funds with them during a move. Payments made by their former employer into the fund are surrendered to the local goverment. In most cases,those paid by wage-earners may only be transferred to the city on their residence permit,or hukou.

Zheng Bingwen, a pension found expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences(CASS), blames this bureaucracy on local government protectionism. In China, around 2,200 units at county and city level collect and manage the social security funds of local citizens.

"Cities don't want newcomers. Usually, they can't take the portion paid by their former employers.It is much larger than the amount individuals pay to the accounts. This means their arrival won't help much in expanding the city's fund, but there will be more to share it,"said Zheng.

Fixing the problem

  Local governments gained control over social security in the 1980s,when the system was first established."The central government didn't have the money to take on the financial burden of providing persion and medical care for the people,"explained Zheng.So the local goverments were requested to do it and they began to manage the fund, said Zheng.

Last week,however, the central government took steps to begin fixing this problem.It aims to move control of the funds from the city and county levels to the provincial level.The move would conbine those 2,200 separate funds into fewer, more centralized funds.

However, as Zheng Gongcheng, professor of social security at Renmin University of China, explained, this reform has its own problems:"In Guangdong,for example,Guangzhou residents pay 8 percent of their poersonal wages towards social security.But in poor cities like Shaoguan,wage-earners pay only 6 percent,"said Zheng."The provicial government has to consider the difference and find a way around it."21ST

How to protect your inverstments

In many cases,if you move, you'll have to pay for it. Evaluate costs and benefits before moving to a new city for which you do not have a hukou.

Social security

Many places in China require wage-earners to pay 8 percent of their monthly income into the social security fund. Employers pay 20 percent. People have to pay in at least 15 years in order to get a pension upon retirement.

Costs: If you leave a city, in most cases you can't transfer the money to another city, unless it's the city listed on your hukou.But you can withdraw the 8 percent-the amount you pay - from your social security account. The city will keep the 20 percent paid by your employer(s).Withdrawing those founds means that you must start from zero and again begin building up to a minimum of 15 years before you retire. if you keep moving between cities, you may fail to reach the 15-year requirement. This means you will not get a pension upon retirement.

How to protect yourself: Open a social security account in your hukou city.Transfer your 8-percent input to the account whenever you move. You may also ask your employers to put your social security money into the same account. This will save you the trouble of dealing with the bureaucracy of the system.

Healthcare

Employess usually pay 2 percent of their monthly income towards healthcare. Companies pay about 10 percent to their employess' healthcare accounts. You will enjoy the benefits as long as both you and your employer pay the money. when you reach retirement age, you will be able to enjoy the benefits without paying. The minimum payment period for a man is 25 years. For a womam,it's 20 years.

  Costs: As in the case of social security, you can only transfer your medical care account to the city listed on your hukou.And you can't transfer the 10 percent portion paid by your employers.If you move to another city, you have to set up a new account.This means you have to start accumulation your 20 or 25 years of payment from zero.

  How to protect yourself: You can only enjoy healthcare in the city in which you have established your healthcare account. So it's best to set up a medical care account whereve you  go. Whenever you leave a city, transfer it to your hukou city. When you retire, you can enjoy your full healthcare benefits there.

Unemployment

  In most cases, the company pays 1.5 percent of your monthly income into an unemployment fund.You pay 0.5 percent of your monthly income. No matter where you go, you can take the account with you. But you can't withdraw the money until you are legally unemployed.

Housing fund
   Wage-earners pay around 10 percent of their monthly paycheck into this fund; employers pay another 10 percent. When moving, employess may transfer both payments to an account in a new city of residence. Wage-earners may also apply for government subsidized loans if they are buying a house in the city where they have established their housing fund.

Other headaches

Today,the hukou still restrans mobility.Here's how you might be troubled if you work in a city other than the one listed on you hukou.

Driver's license: In some cities, you will only be able to get a driver's license for certain types of vehicles. For example, you can't get a Beijing driver's license for a big coach if you are not a Beijing resident.But you can get a driver's license for a four-seat car.

Marriage certificate: Couples must register their marriage in one of the cities listed on their hukou documents.If both work in Shanghai and have hukou documents from Changsha,they must travel to Changsha to register.

Passport and visa: You hava to apply for a passport and visa in the city listed on your hukou.

Subsidized housing: In most cases, only residents with a local hukou may receive subsidized housing.

引用

单词
accumulate  积聚
bureaucracy 官僚作风
evaluate 评估
fund 基金
jeopardize 危害
healthcare 医疗
loan  贷款
minimum 最小额度
mobility 流动性
paycheck 薪水
pension 养老金
portion 部分
protectionism 保护主义
residence 住处
subsidized 补贴
transfer迁移
withdraw 取出