Liu Tao, Sun Li
a Faculty of Sociology , University of Bielefeld , Bielefeld , Germany.
b Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management , Delft University of Technology , Delft , Netherlands.
J Aging Soc Policy. 2016;28(1):15-28. doi: 10.1080/08959420.2016.1111725.
This article analyzes China's pension arrangement and notes that China has recently established a universal non-contributory pension plan covering urban non-employed workers and all rural residents, combined with the pension plan covering urban employees already in place. Further, in the latest reform, China has discontinued the special pension plan for civil servants and integrated this privileged welfare class into the urban old-age pension insurance program. With these steps, China has achieved a degree of universalism and integration of its pension arrangement unprecedented in the non-Western world. Despite this radical pension transformation strategy, we argue that the current Chinese pension arrangement represents a case of "incomplete" universalism. First, its benefit level is low. Moreover, the benefit level varies from region to region. Finally, universalism in rural China has been undermined due to the existence of the "policy bundle." Additionally, we argue that the 2015 pension reform has created a situation in which the stratification of Chinese pension arrangements has been "flattened," even though it remains stratified to some extent.
本文分析了中国的养老金安排，并指出中国最近建立了一项覆盖城镇非就业劳动者和所有农村居民的普惠性非缴费型养老金计划，同时结合了已有的覆盖城镇职工的养老金计划。此外，在最新的改革中，中国取消了公务员的特殊养老金计划，并将这一享有特权的福利群体纳入城镇养老保险计划。通过这些举措，中国在养老金安排方面实现了一定程度的普惠性和整合，这在非西方世界是前所未有的。尽管采取了这种激进的养老金转型策略，但我们认为，当前中国的养老金安排体现了“不完全”普惠性的情况。首先，其福利水平较低。此外，福利水平因地区而异。最后，由于“政策捆绑”的存在，中国农村的普惠性受到了损害。此外，我们认为，2015年的养老金改革造成了一种局面，即中国养老金安排的分层现象虽在一定程度上仍然存在，但已被“扁平化”。
