The central government has pledged that all retirees from
State-owned enterprises will receive an increase in pensions by the
end of the month - a move to narrow the widening income gap.
Senior technology professionals and those that receive a
relatively low pension will get an increase of 120 yuan ($15.80)
and others, 80 yuan, according to the Ministry of Labour and Social
Security.
A document posted on the ministry's website yesterday said the
raise would affect about 42 million retirees and cost about 40
billion yuan.
It said the central government would offer special subsidies to
the country's central and western regions, as well as the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest. But it also required
local governments to increase their financial input.
The decision to raise pensions for enterprise retirees over the
next three years was made last week at a State Council meeting
chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao.
A document released after the meeting said the government had
already raised their pensions in the past three years by an average
of 8 percent a year, but the present pension level was "still quite
low".
To further ease social tensions caused by the income gap, the
government has decided that the increases over the next three years
would exceed the rises made between 2005 and 2007, the document
said.
Liu Yongfu, vice-minister of labour and social security, has
ordered local authorities to fully implement the policies of the
central government.
"The new pensions must be paid by the end of the month," he said
at a meeting on Monday.
Investigations show that the average pension of enterprise
employees is about 750 yuan per month - the minimum salary set for
developed cities, including Beijing.
"With my pension, I can just about make ends meet. Consumer
prices have kept on rising in the first half of this year," a
71-year-old retiree Li Xiuying said.
Zhu Deming, another 56-year-old retiree, complained the increase
in his pension in the past three years was less than that given to
civil servants or those retired from public institutions.
"But I'm happy the government is addressing the problem," he
said.
The State Council last week also endorsed a plan to provide
affordable housing to urban low-income groups by 2010.
"With the country's economic boom, it's time to share the pie
with all levels of society," Chen Liangwen, an economics researcher
with Peking University, said.
(China Daily August 8, 2007)
