Easing the pain of social security reform

CHINA IS PREPARING to reform the system for collecting social insurance contributions, a move that some fear could result in an increased burden on local businesses. Beijing News comments:

Under the existing system, employers pay a certain share of their employees' social security contributions together with the employees' own contributions, which are deducted directly from their wages, to the social security bureau.

However, a recent report revealed that only 24.1 percent of Chinese companies fully comply with their payment obligations to the social security fund. Up to 75.9 percent of companies do not make these payments based on the actual wages they pay, and some only make such contributions based on minimum wages.