Urban Employees In China Research Articles

The Gender Gap in Pension Income for Urban Employees in China

Gender interests are crucial in the redistributive equity of the pension system. This paper investigates the gender gap in retirement pension incomes of urban employees in China by using data from the Chinese Household Income Project and decomposes the main factors contributing to the gender gap. We find that the pension income of female employees after retirement is significantly lower than that of male employees. Decomposition reveals that age, pre-retirement wage level, and type of work unit are the main factors contributing to the gender gap. Further, we find that the gender gap in pension incomes is lower for employees employed in the public sector than for those employed in enterprises, because enterprises are more affected by the market environment than the public sector, and female employees tend to suffer more market discrimination. In general, females still face the challenge of having significantly lower pension standards than males after retirement.

Study on the Impact of Delayed Retirement on the Sustainability of the Basic Pension Insurance Fund for Urban Employees in China

With the aging of China’s population, the problem of pension security has become more and more prominent, and whether delayed retirement can effectively alleviate the pension fund gap and ensure the sustainability of the pension fund has become the focus of social concern. This study predicts the income and expenditure of urban workers’ basic pension insurance fund from 2021 to 2050 by constructing an actuarial model of pension insurance fund income and expenditure, and simulates the effect of delayed retirement policy. The prediction results show that under the existing system, the basic pension insurance fund for urban workers will have a shortfall for the first time in 2027, and the shortfall will expand year by year. Compared with the non-implementation of delayed retirement policy, the simulation of the implementation of a delayed retirement program delayed the emergence of the fund gap until 2029, and the forecast period of the pension fund gap significantly narrowed, indicating that delayed retirement policy has a certain positive impact on alleviating the pressure of pension payments, but delayed retirement cannot completely eliminate the pension fund gap. In view of this, this paper suggests that a progressive and flexible delayed retirement policy should be introduced as soon as possible to better adapt to the needs of different groups. At the same time, differentiated policies should be formulated for different groups of people and a pension incentive mechanism for delayed retirement should be set up to improve public acceptance of delayed retirement policy. In addition, delayed retirement policy should be combined with other measures, such as lowering the corporate contribution rate and enhancing the value-added capacity of the pension fund, so as to ensure the sustainability of the pension fund.

The impact of retirement on inpatient healthcare utilization in Guangzhou,\xa0China: a regression discontinuity analysis of 189,031 health insurance claims

BackgroundPrevious studies suggest that retirement, a major life event, affects overall healthcare utilization. We examine, the effects of retirement on inpatient healthcare utilization, including effect heterogeneity by gender, disease category, and type of health service.MethodsWe used routine health insurance claims data (N = 87,087) spanning the period 2021 - September 2013 from the Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI), a mandatory social health insurance for working and retired employees in urban China. We applied a non-parametric fuzzy regression discontinuity design using the statutory retirement age in urban China as an exogenous instrument to measure the causal effect of retirement on six measures of inpatient healthcare utilization.ResultsRetirement reduced total hospital costs (-84.71 Chinese Yuan (CNY), 95% confidence interval (CI) -172.03 – 2.61), shortened length of hospital stays (-44.59, 95% CI -70.50 – -18.68), and increased hospital readmissions (0.06, 95% CI 0.00 – 0.12) and primary hospital visits (0.06, 95% CI 0.02 – 0.09) among women. Retirement did not significantly change inpatient healthcare utilization among men. The retirement effects among women varied by disease category. Specifically, retirement substantially increased hospitalizations for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), yet had only modest or no effect on hospitalizations for communicable diseases or injuries. Retirement effects among women also varied by the type of services. For relatively inexpensive services, such as nonoperative treatment, there were surges in the extensive margin (hospital readmission). For relatively expensive and invasive services, such as surgeries, retirement reduced the intensive margin (out-of-pocket expenditures and length of stay).ConclusionsRetirement decreases overall use of inpatient healthcare for women. The examination on the disease-related heterogeneous effects helps with the introduction and implementation of integrated healthcare delivery and appropriate incentive schemes to encourage better use of healthcare resources among older adults.

Pension Security Level of Urban Employees in China Based on CHIPs

In 2019, the Chinese government has put forward comprehensive plan for reducing social insurance premium rate, which will affect the measurement of the pension security level. In order to evaluate the pension level, this paper uses CHIPs data from 1988 to 2018 to calculate “empirical” pension replacement rate by “empirical” method based on different wage calibers. The result shows that the pension replacement rate and income replacement rate of urban employees have gradually declined in the past 30 years. The pension level of nonprivate employees is lower than that of insured employees, and that of insured employees is lower than that of full‐scale employees. The pension level of male, high‐income groups, the older generation, organs, and institutions is much higher than that of female, low‐income groups, the younger generation, and enterprises relatively. Compared with other countries, the pension replacement rate of urban employees in China is not low, but the income replacement rate is relatively low. This paper makes an in‐depth analysis of the actual pension level under the new policy. As a result, it is necessary to vigorously develop multilevel and multipillar pension system such as enterprise annuity, occupational annuity, and commercial pension insurance, so as to improve the pension level of urban employees.

Analysis of Economic Effect and Mechanism of Basic Medical Insurance for Urban Employees in China

The purpose of social basic medical insurance is to solve the problem that “medical treatment is difficult and expensive.” With the implementation of new technologies and new diagnosis and treatment methods, the price of medicine has risen sharply. Under this background, can basic medical insurance still relieve the economic pressure of patients? Based on the tracking data of China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 2006 to 2015, by constructing Heckman sample selection model, the paper finds that the basic medical insurance for urban employees (UEBMI) leads to an increase in medical expenses, among which only 0.61% can be attributed to the release of normal medical demand and 114.47% can be attributed to moral hazard; for flexible employees, 249.52% increase can be attributed to adverse selection. Based on this, the paper puts forward two suggestions: first, promoting Hierarchical Treatment Model to control the growth of medical expenses and second, guiding flexible employees to participate in the UEBMI.

Association Between Commute Duration and Sickness Absence in the Context of China: Mechanism and Heterogeneous Effects.

Background: Most employees in urban China have experienced a heavy commuting burden, which has become an urgent issue that should be solved in the new urbanization strategy process. However, the exploration of the relationship between the commute duration and sickness absence remains scant in China, and no direct discussion has been done to analyze the mechanism linking commute duration and sickness absence.Methods: Using a unique dataset of the 2013 China Matched Employer–Employee Survey, the present study applies a two-level random-intercept Poisson model to explore this association.Results: A long commute is significantly related with increased sickness absence. A longer commute is associated with poorer self-rated health status and a higher degree of psychological depression, and it is also highly related with a decrease in sleeping time. Moreover, an increased commuting duration is associated with lower work effort (working hours).Conclusion: Longer commute duration induces lower productivity through increased sickness absence, and the potential link of commute duration and sickness absence is mainly transmitted through health-related outcomes and work effort.

Income Redistribution Effect of Raising the Overall Planning Level of Basic Endowment Insurance for Urban Employees in China

It is the focus of social security system reform at this stage in China to promote the transition of basic endowment insurance for urban employees from provincial overall planning level to national overall planning level, which is of great significance to the realization of fair and efficient of economic development. Based on the micro data of China Household Finance Survey 2017 (CHFS2017), this paper first establishes a personal wage prediction model to estimate the distribution of personal lifetime wage income, then designs two pension collection and payment plans of “direct national overall planning” and “indirect national overall planning”, and establishes an actuarial model of pension to calculate the present value of personal lifetime contribution, lifetime claim and lifetime real wage income after pension adjustment under different overall planning levels. Finally, the income gap index and net benefit rate index are used to measure the change of the whole income gap and the transfer of pension benefits. The results show that on the whole, the basic endowment insurance for urban employees does have a significant income redistribution effect, and its income adjustment effect is positively related to the overall planning level and intensity of the system. Under the current provincial overall planning level, the income redistribution effects of the system are as follows: the high-income group transfers to the low-income group, the young generation to the elderly generation, the female insured person to the male insured person, and the non-state-owned economic unit to the state-owned economic unit. With the improvement of the overall planning level and strengthening of intensity, there are differences in the changes of benefits among different groups.

Financial Well-Being of the Non-Profit Social Service Workforce in China

Abstract Using secondary data from the 2017 online survey of 736 non-profit social service employees in urban China, this study provides a complete description of the financial well-being of the non-profit social service workforce and examines correlates of financial well-being. Results show that non-profit employees’ household income is lower than the disposable income of a typical urban household. Nearly one-third of social service professionals have short-term unsecured debts, 10 per cent do not have public health insurance coverage and another 22 per cent report economic hardships caused by large unexpected expenses. Correlates of financial well-being include individual characteristics (e.g. age, education and marital status) and organizational characteristics (type, revenue and size). New services (e.g. employment-based programmes and financial services) are proposed to promote financial well-being of non-profit social service employees in China.

The prevalence of Crohn's disease based on the basic medical insurance system for urban employees in China in 2013

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of Crohn's disease (CD) among urban employees in 24 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China in 2013. Method: The crude annual prevalence of CD among urban employees with medical insurance in 2013 was estimated by using the basic medical insurance database of 24 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions), as well as the prevalence by sex, age and region. The age-standardized rate based on the 2010 census was also estimated. Results: The crude prevalence of CD among urban employees in 2013 was 3.2/100 000(95%CI:3.1/100 000-3.3/100 000) , and the sex-specific rate was 3.5/100 000 (95%CI:3.3/100 000-3.6/100 000) and 3.0/100 000 (95% CI:2.8/100 000-3.1/100 000) for male and female, respectively. The crude prevalence in different regions indicated that the highest crude prevalence was in the eastern region [5.6/100 000 (95% CI:5.4/100 000-5.8/100 000) ]. Conclusion: The prevalence of CD in China is still lower than that of the western countries, with difference varied in terms of age, gender and region.

A Study of Healthcare Reform in China in Light of the USA and Canadian Systems

This article describes and examines the newly implemented basic medical insurance system for urban employees in China. The insurance system was built on two distinct concepts, individual providence and social insurance, and was characterized by national government mandates, local government administration, and employer/employee contributions. The study found that the Chinese basic medical insurance program for urban employees was implemented in all major urban areas. About 130 million people were covered under the scheme as of May 2005. The program benefits are limited with relatively low ceilings on reimbursable expenses and high cost sharing from the insured. The procedure for reimbursement is complicated and time consuming. China can learn from the U.S. and Canadian systems in both financing and providing healthcare. The U.S. system arguably supplies the best medical services in terms of quality and accessibility for those who are insured and those who can pay out of pocket. But the huge costs may not work well with China at present. The Canadian system, which is relatively effective, efficient, and equitable, although not as accessible, may fit China better. The study also suggests that the U.S. employer-based healthcare insurance system requires a major overhaul. It puts U.S. companies at a disadvantaged position in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.

A Study of Healthcare Reform in China in Light of the USA and Canadian Systems

This article describes and examines the newly implemented basic medical insurance system for urban employees in China. The insurance system was built on two distinct concepts, individual providence and social insurance, and was characterized by national government mandates, local government administration, and employer/employee contributions. The study found that the Chinese basic medical insurance program for urban employees was implemented in all major urban areas. About 130 million people were covered under the scheme as of May 2005. The program benefits are limitedwith relatively low ceilings on reimbursable expenses and high cost sharing from the insured. The procedure for reimbursement is complicated and time consuming. China can learn from the U.S. and Canadian systems in both financing and providing healthcare. The U.S. system arguably supplies the best medical services in terms of quality and accessibility for those who are insured and those who can pay out of pocket. But the huge costs may not work well with China at present. The Canadian system, which is relatively effective, efficient, and equitable, although not as accessible, may fit China better. The study also suggests that the U.S. employer-based healthcare insurance system requires a major overhaul. It puts U.S. companies at a disadvantaged position in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Decreasing the Premium Rate of Pension Insurance and the Sustainability of Pension Insurance Fund: Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It?

At present, the social insurance contribution rate of urban employees in China is as high as 40%. The excessive payment rate will bring heavy burden to enterprises and employees. Report of the Nineteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the need to continue to reduce the premium rate of social insurance. However, as the degree of population aging deepens, the sustainability of social insurance funds is gradually being impacted. In this background, can we simultaneously achieve the two goals of reducing the social insurance contribution rate and fund sustainability? Taken the basic pension insurance for urban employees as an example, in the context of lowering the premium rate of social insurance, this paper uses the actuarial model to analyze whether social insurance funds can operate sustainably in the short-term （2019−2025） and medium-term （2019−2050）. Therefore, it provides an empirical reference for the government to promote the implementation of the tax reduction and fee reduction policy. The study finds that: （1） If there is no policy intervention, the fund will start to have a cumulative deficit around 2027. Since then, the cumulative deficit has expanded year by year. （2） In the short term, regardless of whether or not to introduce a policy to improve the financial operation of the fund, a further 1% reduction in the premium rate will not affect the sustainability of the fund. （3） After the implementation of the universal two-child policy, the fund is still running a cumulative deficit in 2027. （4） In the medium term, even if the universal two-child policy is implemented and the payment compliance is improved, the fund will start to have a cumulative deficit between 2029 and 2045; however, with the increase of payment compliance, the cumulative deficit scale shows a downward trend, and improving the payment compliance and implementing the universal two-child policy will not guarantee the realization of the two goals of reducing the payment rate and sustainable fund development in the medium term （2019−2050）. （5） After further delaying the retirement age, the fund will not run a cumulative deficit until 2050, and the cumulative balance will be 10.63−150.06 trillion yuan by 2050. Under this assumption, the fund will have a balance in 2050, thus creating a reduction room for 0.5−4.75 percentage point in the contribution rate; at the same time, it does not affect the sustainability of the fund. In summary, in the short term, the goals of reducing the premium rate of social insurance and fund sustainability can be achieved. But in the medium term, the introduction of policy adjustments can achieve the above two goals. Therefore, in order to reduce the burden of corporate contributions and ensure the sustainability of the fund, the government should encourage fertility, improve payment compliance, and implement a delayed retirement age policy as soon as possible.

Evaluation on the Sustainability of Urban Public Pension System in China

Against the background of population aging and economic downturn, the sustainability of pension systems has aroused great concern for governments across the world. To better reflect the pressure of pension payments in the changing context, the paper aims to forecast the annual pension gap of the public pension system for urban employees in China. By the use of Cohort-component population projections and stochastic projection models, the distribution of flow-based annual pension gap in the next fifty years are estimated under basic assumptions. The results show that the pension gap continues to exist from 2017 and keeps expanding until 2070 without any policy reform. Sensitivity analyses of demographics and various combinations of policy parameters on the distribution of future pension gaps are displayed. Wider pension coverage with lower policy threshold is more likely to face larger long-term pension gap.

Stochastic Assessments of Urban Employees’ Pension Plan of China

In the uncertain environment of population and economy; the pension plan for urban employees in China is under threat from various types of financial risk. This paper mainly builds a comprehensive risk assessment system to evaluate the solvency sustainability of the urban employees’ pension plan of China. Specifically, we forecast annual accumulative net asset; actuarial balance; and potential support ratio for the next seventy years. To account for the impact of demographic uncertainty on long-term finances, stochastic simulations are used to estimate the probability distribution of relative risk indicators. Moreover, we integrate the Lee–Carter model into the population projection. According to the median projection, the public pension fund will have a gap in about 35 years; and the cash flow will be negative about 25 years later. Furthermore, under the existing policy, the burden of insured employees will increase rapidly. Delayed retirement could relieve the coming solvency risk, but it does not fundamentally resolve the solvency problem in the long run.

Understanding the retirement-consumption puzzle through the lens of food consumption-fuzzy regression-discontinuity evidence from urban China

This paper provides an understanding of the widely-documented retirement-consumption puzzle from the perspective of food consumption. Exploiting the mandatory retirement age cut-off for public-sector male employees in urban China to obtain a source of exogenous variation in their retirement status, this paper identifies the causal impacts of retirement on four major aspects of their food consumption: food expenditure, time spent in food acquisition, the quantity and quality of food consumed. Based on data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, our fuzzy regression-discontinuity analysis finds that, consistent with the retirement-consumption puzzle, retirement reduces elderly males’ total food expenditure by 49–55%. However, retirement barely changes the quantity of food they consume (measured by total calorie intakes). Further analysis suggests that elderly males substitute time for money in food acquisition upon retirement, which helps to reconcile the differential impacts of retirement on food expenditure and food consumption. Finally, retirement greatly changes elderly males’ diet structure. They consume significantly less food with animal origins (and thus less fat and protein) and more grains (and thus more carbohydrate) upon retirement, which undermines their diet balance by the standards provided by the Chinese Nutrition Association.

A Stuy of Health Care Reform in China in Light of the USA and Canadian Systems

This article describes and examines the newly implemented basic medical insurance system for urban employees in China. The insurance system was built on two distinct concepts, individual providence and social insurance, and was characterized by national government mandates, local government administration, and employer/employee contributions. The study found that the Chinese basic medical insurance program for urban employees was implemented in all major urban areas. About 130 million people were covered under the scheme as of May 2005. The program benefits are limited with relatively low ceilings on reimbursable expenses and high cost sharing from the insured. The procedure for reimbursement is complicated and time consuming. China can learn from the U.S. and Canadian systems in both financing and providing healthcare. The U.S. system arguably supplies the best medical services in terms of quality and accessibility for those who are insured and those who can pay out of pocket. But the huge costs may not work well with China at present. The Canadian system, which is relatively effective, efficient, and equitable, although not as accessible, may fit China better. The study also suggests that the U.S. employer-based healthcare insurance system requires a major overhaul. It puts U.S. companies at a disadvantaged position in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Jiang Hu theory of organizing: in-depth study of self-managing of tourism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore self-management among informal tourism employees in urban China with the theoretical basis of Jianghu and reveal the forming process and operation mechanism of China’s urban informal organizations’ self-management. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts process–event analysis of informal tourism photographers surrounding Guangzhou Tower. Conducting field inspection and in-depth interviews, the forming process is analyzed and typical events are captured to unveil this self-management mechanism. Findings The self-management of informal tourism employees in China is based on the Jianghu theory, which specifies the role, obligation and responsibility of a member. These above rely on word-of-mouth order or implicit ways to treat newcomers, realize internal communication and deal with public affairs. Brotherhood, benevolence and etiquette make up the core values of the Jianghu theory that advises strategies in dealing with different events. This self-management, based on the Jianghu theory, has not only effectively solved internal conflicts, but has also achieved the goal of social management. Originality/value Informal employees’ self-management is extremely important due to the high cost of government intervention. Through China’s urban informal tourism employees’ Jianghu-styled self-management, the paper shows that the government should not crack down on this group indiscriminately. Instead, it should, through the management agent, set up effective Jianghu rules to realize regular control over this group.

Commute time and subjective well-being in urban China

Using data from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies, this study investigates the association between commute time and subjective well-being in a sample of 16- to 65-year-old employees in urban China. We find evidence that a longer commute time is associated with lower levels of both life satisfaction and happiness, especially when the commute times are extreme (≥1 hour per day). A multiple mediation analysis further indicates that the relation between commute time and happiness is partially mediated by the time spent on daily activities, particularly sleep. We also calculate the amount of income necessary to compensate an employee's loss in well-being at approximately 82 yuan per hour of commute time, implying that in urban China the annual loss of well-being amounts to around 10 billion yuan.

The Earnings Differential between Formal and Informal Employees in Urban China

Few studies in the field of labor economics have analyzed the earnings differential between formal and informal employees in urban China. Due to data limitations, previous studies on this subject have not yielded accurate and widely acceptable results. This study seeks to obtain more accurate results by analyzing the earnings differential based on the conceptual framework of informal employment developed by the 17th International Conference of Labor Statisticians. We analyzed data from the 2006 Chinese General Social Survey, using the Lee model to correct for selection bias and decomposing the earnings differential between formal and informal employees in urban China in terms of the effects of employee characteristics, employment, and working hours. The latter two of these comprise the segmentation effect. We found that only 33% of the observed earnings differential can be explained by employee characteristics; the remaining 67% is attributable to the segmentation effect. The working hours effect narrows the earnings differential. Based on the results of our analysis, we conclude that informal employees in urban China, especially female informal employees, suffer from segmentation and that policies to address segmentation issues are needed.

Income Security Policy for Urban Employees in China

Income Security Policy for Urban Employees in China