Our reporter Meng Ke
A few days ago, the local two sessions came to an end one after another. The reporter found out that many provinces mentioned "raising the basic pension of retirees" in the government work report. Experts said that there is little suspense in the "18 consecutive increase" of pensions.
In addition, in order to ease the pressure on pension income and expenditure, it is imperative to speed up the construction of a multi-level and multi-pillar pension insurance system, and it is urgent to implement the personal pension system as soon as possible.
Pensions will rise by about 3% this year
According to the reporter's understanding, in the government work report in 2022, many provinces have made plans to moderately increase the basic pension of retirees. For example, Hebei Province clearly wants to increase the basic pension of retirees; Henan Province stated that "the basic pension of retirees should be moderately increased. Jilin Province and Shaanxi Province also clearly proposed to "ensure that basic pensions are paid on time and in full".
At the same time, on January 21, Liu Kun, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Minister of the Ministry of Finance, made it clear at the National Financial Work Conference that the basic pension of retirees should be moderately raised.
Start the implementation of national overall planning of basic pension insurance for enterprise employees, clarify the expenditure responsibilities of the central and local governments, establish a long-term mechanism for the investment of local financial supplementary pension insurance funds, rationally adjust the balance of funds, and ensure that pensions are paid in full and on time.
Industry experts believe that the 2022 pension increase window has opened.
In fact, as of 2021, my country's pensions for retirees have achieved a "17th consecutive increase".
From 2018 to 2020, the increase rate will be 5% for three consecutive years, and the increase rate will be adjusted to 4.5% in 2021.
"In recent years, the rate of increase of basic pensions for retirees has shown a downward trend, and this year's pension increase is about 3%." Dong Dengxin, director of the Institute of Finance and Securities at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said in an interview with a reporter from "Securities Daily". This is due to factors such as the slowdown in the growth rate of social security fund income; on the other hand, the current per capita pension level for employees in my country is about 3,000 yuan per month, which is already relatively high, accounting for about 60% of the average salary of on-the-job employees.
"Retirees have the right to share in the fruits of social development, and at the same time, pension increases are a necessary measure to fight inflation. Therefore, the basic pensions for retirees will continue to increase this year, and the rate of pension increases should be at least not lower than the rate of CPI increases." IPG China District Chief Economist Bai Wenxi told reporters.
According to a research report by the Shanghai Securities Fund Evaluation Research Center, as of 2021, basic pensions have risen for 17 consecutive years.
However, based on the average salary of 8,115 yuan/month in 2020, the paid salary is 8,115 yuan, and from 22-year-old university graduation to work to 60-year-old retirement, the pension income is 3,084 yuan/month, and the replacement rate is 38%.
This is still slightly below the ILO-recommended minimum pension replacement rate (55%).
The third pillar of pensions welcomes large expansion
The "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to vigorously develop inclusive pension services, gradually delay the statutory retirement age, increase the coverage rate of enterprise annuity, and standardize the development of the third pillar pension insurance.
"At present, our country is facing the impact of an aging population. Under the circumstance that the large-scale development of the 'first pillar' and the 'second pillar' may be limited, the implementation and rapid advancement of the 'third pillar' system cannot be delayed." Chinese Culture Yuan Shuai, deputy secretary general of the Rural Revitalization and Construction Committee of the Management Association, told reporters.
After the "14th Five-Year Plan" put forward the vision and measures to deal with the aging of the population, governments and regulatory departments at all levels responded quickly and refined the relevant content.
On December 17, 2021, the 23rd meeting of the Central Comprehensive Deepening Reform Committee reviewed and approved the "Opinions on Promoting the Development of Individual Pensions". The meeting emphasized that the development of a multi-level, multi-pillar pension insurance system is an active response to population aging. It is an important measure to realize the sustainable development of the old-age insurance system.
It is necessary to improve the system design, reasonably divide the pension responsibilities of the state, units and individuals, and provide institutional guarantees for individuals to accumulate pensions.
The document plays an important guiding role in promoting and improving my country's three-pillar system, marking the beginning of a "new era of personal pensions".
In addition, the 2022 government work reports in many places also clearly put forward "improving the multi-level social security system" and "building a 'three-pillar' system for endowment insurance".
What is the development status of my country's third-pillar personal pension system?
It is understood that in 2018, my country has successively piloted pension target funds and individual tax-deferred commercial pension insurance; in September 2021, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission has launched pension wealth management products.
At present, the variety of personal pension products is relatively simple, the market choice is not large, and there is still a large market space.
Up to now, the net asset value of the pension target fund is about 100 billion yuan.
The accumulated premium income of individual tax-deferred commercial endowment insurance is only more than 200 million yuan, and the number of insured people is more than 45,000, which needs to be further developed.
Dong Dengxin said that the development of the third pillar of personal pensions must be done with both hands.
First, the development of the personal pension system depends to a large extent on the concept of family wealth management. It is necessary to guide family wealth management through investment education, strengthen the emphasis on pension savings, and increase the emphasis on personal pension products. Second, financial institutions should be encouraged to develop Personal pension product research and development and business innovation provide investors with more diversified investment options.
Yuan Shuai said that the vigorous development of personal pensions depends not only on the strength and structure of tax policies, but also on relevant institutions to improve product research and development capabilities and asset management capabilities, make more explorations, and launch more diversified and aging-friendly products. personal pension products to meet the diverse pension needs of the public.
In terms of pensions entering the market, Dong Dengxin said that personal pensions as the third pillar will become an important long-term source of funds for China's capital market.
"The market entry scale of the first pillar basic pension insurance fund is established. Judging from the situation in developed countries, the scale of the basic pension insurance fund has little room for growth. The third pillar personal pension is not capped. When the enterprise annuity of the second pillar cannot be expanded rapidly in the short term, the personal pension is expected to develop ahead and play a greater role in supplementing the pension." Dong Dengxin analyzed.
Yuan Shuai said that with the further development of the third pillar of pensions, it and the capital market will form a mutually reinforcing situation.
In my country's capital market, long-term and institutional-led investment funds are relatively scarce, and pensions are expected to become one of the long-term and stable sources of funds in the capital market.
The development of the third pillar can not only improve my country's multi-level social security system, but also help the development of the capital market.
At the same time, the continuous improvement and development of the capital market will also feed back the construction of the third pillar, forming a virtuous circle.
(Securities Daily)