September 2002
China’s Labour And Pensions Challenge
For half a century, China’s state-owned enterprises provided lifelong support for workers, offering housing, education, healthcare, staple food provisions, coal and pensions – with the state picking up the bill. Now the debt-laden state sector is being forced to adapt to the free market. State companies are laying off unprecedented numbers of workers as China braces itself for heightened competition with multinational companies and increasingly aggressive private firms. The government lacks an effective, national social welfare system to provide for unemployed and retired workers. And with the number of retirees set to soar while the influx of new workers into the market decreases, the country is facing a pension crisis before the end of the decade.
Also in this issue:
Insurance: Much ado about not very much
Politics:Washington puts China on its radar
Monkey King: Serge Dumont