Government Jobs Remain a Sweet Retirement Deal in China Despite Clamor to Reform Pensions · Global Voices
Retired seniors play cards in a park in China. Photo by Flickr user <PERSON> and <PERSON>. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“Iron rice bowl” is Chinese slang for stable government-related employment that comes with attractive benefits and practically zero risks of job cuts. So tempting was the label, popularised during <PERSON> rule in China before economic reforms kicked in, that it was even seen as a boastful attribute during blind dates in the 1960s.
Such jobs promise free pensions with which jobholders can rest easy after retirement, effectively creating a cradle-to-grave welfare scheme inspired by the Soviet model. During the heyday of China’s planned economy, iron rice bowl were the definition of golden jobs.
But what many people once perceived as dream jobs have become a liability for the Chinese government in recent years, as the country struggles with a looming pension deficit amid changing demographics.
Realising the invention of iron rice bowl has landed them in hot water, authorities in China hinted at a willingness to do away with the free pension privilege in late May this year. Chinese media reported at the time that workers at government and affiliated organisations are required to contribute individually to their social security starting in July, when a new regulation would take effect.
But in a drastic twist, the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which oversees social welfare and employment, dismissed media reports as misinterpretations. 341
The department told the Communist Party mouthpiece newspaper People's Daily last week that the new regulation was simply some “general principles” — a Chinese euphemism to allow for flexibility — and “additional studies” need to be done regarding government workers’ salary mechanism and pension.
For now, China's 21-million-strong workers in government and its affiliated organisations might bask in the assurance that their status quo will not be challenged anytime soon, but this sudden turn of events appear to have dented hope for more equality in pension, adding another layer of tension in China's pledge to reform its troubled pension system.
Pension system inequality
China introduced its national pension system in 1997, at a time when living conditions had markedly improved after nearly two decades of economic reforms. While the Chinese government deserves credit for having expanded its pension coverage rate ever since, it's been often times faulted for creating a class-defined scheme. Workers are divided into three groups — urban white-collar workers, government workers (including those employed at government-affiliated groups) and farmers — that have their own distinctive pension packages.
Under the current pension system, urban white-collar workers are generally required to contribute 28 percent of their salary to collective pension pools, while iron rice bowl job holders — mostly government employees — have their pension entirely covered by the state. Pension received by an iron bowl rice retiree can be 33 times higher than what a peasant will get after retirement, a Chinese media outlet reported in 2013, citing figures from National School of Development of the prestigious Beijing University.
<PERSON>, a Shanghai-based user, lamented this set-up as unfair:
【中国的社保本质】其实就是5个民工每人凑了20块钱，准备吃顿大餐。菜做好了，工头来了，他没交钱，却吃了3份，5个交钱的民工合吃了2份。普通职工缴纳养老金的费用占工资的28%，公务员无须缴纳，但退休后公务员退休金却是普通职工3倍——“劫贫济富”，这就是中国的社保。
The essence of China's pension: It's like there are five migrants workers, and each contributes 20 yuan [about 3 US dollars] to pay for a big meal. The food is ready and the supervisor of the migrant workers comes. The supervisor doesn't pay for the meal but ends up having three people's food. Normal employees have to contribute 28 percent of their income to pensions whereas a government worker gets three times the pension of what a normal employee gets — robbing the poor to help the rich. 49