The content of China's social welfare system

(A) the establishment and content of the traditional welfare system in China.

China's social welfare system was established in 1950s. 195 1 August released the report on urban relief and welfare, which was organized and implemented by the civil affairs department of the government. The protection targets are mainly the helpless elderly, orphans or abandoned babies, the disabled and so on. Civil affairs departments provide protection for these orphans, the elderly and the disabled by setting up welfare institutions. Welfare institutions are divided into social welfare undertakings and social welfare enterprises. Welfare institutions include all kinds of adoption welfare homes and mental hospitals; Welfare enterprises mainly solve the problem of life security for the disabled by providing employment opportunities for them. These benefits managed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs only cover a very small number of special people in cities and towns (less than 1% of the total population). 1the trade union law promulgated in June, 950, and1the revised draft of the detailed rules for the implementation of People's Republic of China (PRC)'s labor insurance regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Labor in June, 953, stipulate the subsidies for employees' living difficulties, family visits and heating, and also stipulate that enterprises should set up canteens and nurseries, and the expenses required shall be borne by the enterprise administration or the employer. 1953 in may, the Ministry of finance and the Ministry of personnel issued the joint notice on unified management of multi-child allowance and family welfare; 1954 In March, the State Council issued the Notice on the Measures for the Management and Use of Staff Welfare Funds of People's Governments at All Levels; And1Notice on State Organs and Institutions issued by the State Council in June, 1956, Notice on Winter Heating Subsidies for Staff Dormitories in Enterprise Units 1956, and Instructions on Several Issues Concerning Staff Life issued by the State Council 10/957. These laws and regulations have made comprehensive provisions on workers' winter heating, subsidies for living difficulties, workers' housing, commuting, medical subsidies for workers' families, and the supply of daily necessities for state organs and institutions. As a result, the welfare needs of most employees of enterprises and staff of state organs and institutions are provided by their units according to regulations, which is the main body of social welfare in China (accounting for more than 95% of urban residents and more than 25% of the total population). The welfare of employees in enterprises is managed by the Ministry of Labor, and the welfare of staff in state organs and institutions is managed by the personnel department of the government. It can be seen that social welfare in China consists of three parts: folk welfare, employee welfare of enterprises and employee welfare of state organs and institutions.

From the establishment of the social welfare system in the early 1950s to the planned economy in the late 1990s, the welfare benefits enjoyed by urban residents have been increasing, from subsidies for workers' living difficulties, heating in winter, visiting relatives, transportation and rest, to the establishment of nurseries, kindergartens, canteens, bathhouses, infirmary, reading rooms and stadiums for workers, to the provision of subsidies for all urban residents for grain, oil and non-staple foods. In addition, education and housing distribution are also welfare benefits. In education, education from primary school to high school is free. Higher education is not only free of tuition and accommodation fees, but also students can enjoy grants, which can solve the problem of eating. In terms of welfare housing allocation, enterprises or units allocate housing for employees according to their length of service and age and the number of family members. In short, in the 50 years of the planned economy era, China's social welfare system was based on occupation, with urban workers as the main body, taking care of all aspects of workers' lives, and almost all the funds needed were provided by the state finance.

Since the establishment of the welfare system in China, especially in the ten years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has made a useful contribution to solving the survival problems of the homeless, helpless and homeless members in urban and rural areas. According to the statistics of the civil affairs department, the welfare homes managed by the civil affairs department adopted 64,454 elderly people who were widowed, 27,964 orphans and14,627 mental patients. [1] In rural areas, according to the "five guarantees" system established in Article 30 of the National Agricultural Development Program (1956- 1976) adopted by the Second Session of the Second National People's Congress in April 1960, many areas have established nursing homes to adopt elderly people who are lonely in rural areas. By 1994, there were 33,584 towns and villages in China supporting 2.73 million "five guarantees" population, and there were about 40,000 nursing homes in rural areas, which adopted 560,000 elderly people. [2] The implementation of the citizen welfare system ensures the survival of the most vulnerable groups in society, which greatly shows the superiority of the new socialist system and ensures social stability.

Under the employment and distribution system of "high employment and low wages" in the planned economy period, the all-inclusive welfare treatment enjoyed by urban workers not only greatly filled the living deficit caused by low income, but also improved and improved their material and spiritual living standards, making them feel the satisfaction and pride of being masters of their own house.

(B) China's current social welfare system

The economic system reform since 1980s has brought about great changes in the social structure, and the traditional welfare system has increasingly exposed a series of disadvantages that are not adapted to the new social environment. First, the reform of state-owned enterprises will inevitably make enterprises become independent economic entities and participate in market competition with all enterprises. In this case, enterprises, especially some old enterprises, are hard to compete fairly with new enterprises because of the heavy burden of employee benefits, and will face greater bankruptcy risks. Moreover, once the enterprise where employees work goes bankrupt, employees will have extremely families. Secondly, the welfare benefits of enterprises closely bind enterprises and employees (such as housing allocated by the unit, children's schools attended by employees, etc.). , forming a personal attachment relationship between enterprises and employees). The benefits of employees in different enterprises or units will vary greatly, and the benefits of employees in some units are even higher than wages, which hinders the rational flow of labor and the formation of a unified labor market required by the market economy; Third, generous welfare benefits are evenly distributed, so instead of stimulating the enthusiasm of workers, it encourages people's laziness and dependence and affects the efficiency and development of enterprises; Fourth, economic transformation has brought about the diversification of economic structure. Rural population has flowed into cities and towns and entered enterprises and units with different ownership. They can't even enjoy the social insurance benefits they deserve, let alone the social welfare benefits. This kind of unequal treatment of farmers since the establishment of the system can not continue under the socialist market economy, otherwise it will continue to widen the gap between urban and rural areas, and the dual social and economic structure of urban and rural areas can not be broken. It can be seen that under the condition of market economy, the traditional welfare system can not only meet the needs of different social members (China's existing social welfare services can only meet 5% of social needs, and the social welfare services here mainly refer to pension and foster care institutions for the elderly and the disabled), but also directly affect the development of enterprises, ultimately affect the development of the whole economy, and also lead to social instability. It is imperative to reform the traditional welfare system.

1In April, 1993, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the National Welfare Institute Evaluation Standard, and in August of the same year, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the Social Welfare Enterprise Plan. 199465438+February, the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued the Measures for the Administration of Welfare Lottery in China. 1In April 1997, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the State Planning Commission jointly issued the Ninth Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs and the Outline of 20 10 Long-term Goals, pointing out that the employment of disabled people can be changed from a single welfare enterprise to welfare enterprise employment or decentralized employment. 19965438+February, the Ministry of Civil Affairs promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Social Welfare Institutions. It can be seen from these laws and regulations, whether it is the development of social welfare homes and social welfare enterprises, the raising of welfare funds, the employment of the disabled, the management of social welfare institutions, etc. As the competent institution of welfare undertakings in China, the civil affairs department will gradually lead the social welfare undertakings in China from official to social undertakings, and set up welfare projects according to welfare needs, such as setting up nursing homes, apartments for the elderly, nursing services for the elderly and domestic services for the elderly. The socialization of citizen welfare not only makes citizen welfare out of the closed, but also improves the efficiency of citizen welfare institutions. At the same time, social welfare institutions are also developing rapidly. In particular, social welfare enterprises run by the society have even surpassed those run by the government. According to statistics, by the end of 1990s, the number of welfare enterprises organized by the government had decreased from 65% to 14%, and the number of social welfare enterprises had increased from 35% to 86%, and the disabled employed by welfare enterprises accounted for 84% of the total number of disabled persons employed.

In the early days of enterprise employee welfare reform, the welfare facilities of enterprises were opened to the outside world through the implementation of the contract responsibility system. In the 1990s, under the social background of vigorously developing the tertiary industry, most enterprises and units, on the basis of the contract responsibility system, broke the closed business model in the past, set up social-oriented and paid service labor service companies, gradually decoupled from the original units, became independent economic entities, and participated in market competition. For example, most housing maintenance companies, nurseries, kindergartens, barbershops and so on. It is a self-financing economic entity separated from the original enterprise or unit.

Housing Welfare Reform: After the State Council promulgated the "Implementation Plan for Implementing China's Urban Housing Reform by Stages" from 65438 to 0989, the housing distribution of urban residents began to be commercialized and privatized. 1994, the State Council issued the Decision on Deepening the Reform of Urban Housing System, stipulating that public housing should be sold at standard prices. 1at the end of 998, after the central government announced that it would stop welfare housing distribution in enterprises and institutions, employees bought houses at standard prices. At the same time, a housing accumulation fund system with 50% contributions from both units and employees was established, and affordable housing was built and sold for employees. Some cities provide residents with low-rent housing or rent subsidies.

The reform of education and welfare has brought pressure to people. Since 1980s, the original grant system in colleges and universities has been changed into a loan system. Later, the tuition fees of colleges and universities rose all the way, and the key primary and secondary schools in the city had to collect sponsorship fees. Rural compulsory education has lost the support of the collective economy and shifted the burden to farmers. Because the egalitarian distribution system was broken during the planned economy period, people's income gap appeared, some people got rich first, and expensive private schools came into being. Advanced teaching equipment, excellent teachers and unique teaching methods provide excellent opportunities for the children of the rich. A variety of school-running modes from kindergarten to university have opened up the competitive situation in the field of education and provided the possibility for cultivating students who meet the requirements of the times.

With the deepening of the reform of state-owned enterprises, the number of state-owned enterprises and their employees has been greatly reduced, and the welfare undertakings of state-owned enterprises, state organs and institutions have gradually become socialized. Therefore, the investment of units and enterprises in social welfare undertakings is greatly reduced, and the burden is greatly reduced. At the same time, the welfare undertakings organized by the state and society have developed rapidly, constantly meeting the needs of different social members for welfare projects. Although China's social welfare reform is not as fast as the social insurance reform, it is slowly developing towards socialization and standardization.