The Strategies for the Sustainability of China’s Basic Pension Insurance System in the Digital Economy

Abstract

AbstractWith the aggravation of China’s ageing population and the slowdown of economic growth, the sustainability of the basic pension insurance system has become an important issue that needs to be paid more attention to. At the same time, the vigorous development of the digital economy has not only profoundly changed the way of human production and life but also affected the labour market and workers’ rights and interests. The emergence of new employment forms a great challenge to the current social security system based on the registered residence system and labour relations. The weakening of the function of pension insurance is a prominent problem. Therefore, the sustainability of the pension insurance system is not only related to the imbalance of revenue and expenditure of insurance funds but also connected with the background of population development, economic performance, institutional changes and digital economy. This paper discussed four aspects that affect the sustainability of the basic pension insurance systems: acceleration of population ageing, rising old-age dependency ratio and delayed retirement; co-development of three pillars’ pension insurance; revenue and expenditure gap, new employment forms and new resources of pension fund from the digital economy; maintaining and increasing the value of pension insurance fund. It also puts forward suggestions to support the sustainable development of the basic insurance system.KeywordsBasic pension insurance systemRevenue and expenditure gap of pension fundSustainable developmentDigital economyJEL ClassificationR01J14J18J21J26I38P36