Why are flexible workers not willing to participate in insurance?

Experts: Voluntary contributions and income instability are the main factors, and a universal social security system should be explored to improve their enthusiasm for participating in insurance

Reporter Qiao Ran

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At the same time, surveys show that social security payment is the primary problem that plagues flexible workers, and the poor job stability and weak job continuity make this group less motivated to participate in insurance, and it is difficult to ensure continuous payment, and it is easy to stop paying.

A few days ago, according to the person in charge of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, some migrant workers, flexible employment personnel, new employment forms of workers and other groups of people are not included in social security, and there are still "missing insurance", "out of insurance" and "out of insurance". The reporter interviewed and found that, generally speaking, social security is the most basic guarantee for workers, but for some flexible employment groups, this is a very tangled and troublesome thing, they need to balance the current reality and future expectations, and decide whether to pay social security.

The motivation is not high, and it is difficult to continue to pay

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2021, there were about 2 million flexible employees in China, including food delivery workers, online car-hailing drivers, anchors... With the blessing of the Internet, more and more flexible jobs have been created, so that more people have employment options. At the same time, some surveys show that social security payment is the primary problem that plagues flexible workers, with low income, poor job stability, and weak job continuity, which makes this group less motivated to participate in insurance, and it is difficult to ensure continuous payment, and it is easy to stop paying.

Li Liang, who was born in 1988, is now a food delivery driver in Fuzhou, and his social security contributions have been cut off for a year. Li Liang told reporters that he began to run takeaway after the failure of his business two years ago, and currently mainly runs special delivery, but due to the large mobility of riders and other reasons, the company did not pay social security to riders. When asked why he didn't pay according to flexible employment, Li Liang gave the answer: "After deducting the daily expenses of the family and the children's school expenses, there is almost no surplus in the salary earned every month, and the payment of social security is not considered." ”

The reporter interviewed and learned that many flexible employees, like Li Liang, need to balance the current reality and future expectations, they pay more attention to the current consumption, and future consumption such as social security is naturally ranked behind. Liu Feng, born in the 90s, chose to work as a daily worker in the Majuqiao Labor Market in Beijing, and for more than two years, he has been engaged in different types of work such as security, sorting, and packer. As a young and strong man, he had many opportunities to become an employee of the company, which meant that the company would pay social security for him, but Liu Feng didn't care. For him, the day-end job is more flexible and free, and he can compare the day's salary every day and choose the highest-paying job. "Enjoy the present now, and talk about the future later." Liu Feng said.

Gao Chen, an online ride-hailing driver, has been paying social security intermittently. "When you make a lot of money, you pay social security for a few months, and when you make less money, you stop it." Gao Chen told reporters that he bought a house in his hometown in Jilin and had to repay the loan every month, because he knew that he would not stay in Beijing for a long time in the future, had no need to buy a house or a car, and did not pursue the continuity of social security payment.

Some flexible workers have difficulty in enrolling in insurance

Wang Hong, a 24-year-old native of Hebi, Henan Province, resigned from an Internet company in Beijing and plans to continue his studies while working part-time. What he didn't expect was that the first problem he faced after resigning was what to do with social security.

"I have never considered this problem before, and in the past, the unit paid five insurances and one housing fund." For this reason, Wang Hong specially calculated an account, if you choose to pay social security independently, you will have to pay more than 2000,3 yuan a month at least, nearly <>,<> yuan a year.

Wang Hong is a little entangled: from a certain point of view, social security is the basis for establishing a connection with the city of Beijing, for example, only after paying social security for five consecutive years can you be eligible to buy an RV. But if you choose to settle in other cities in the future, the fees paid in the past few years are not worth it. "After working, I don't want to spend my family's money anymore, and now I don't feel the benefits of social security."

Unlike young people like Wang Hong, who are not aware of the importance of paying social security, Wang Hong's parents insist on paying social security for him.

Wang Hong's mother is 56 years old this year, just received a year's pension, she was 30 years old when she was laid off to do business once cut off social security, until 2013, only to learn from friends around her, to the retirement age has not paid social security for 15 years, is unable to receive a pension, fortunately, there was a policy at that time to make up, did not affect the pension received. "He was too young to realize the importance of social security." Wang Hong's mother said.

However, Wang Hong is facing a new problem: due to the restriction of household registration, he is currently unable to participate in the insurance at the place of employment, and can only choose to participate in the pension insurance for urban and rural residents in the place of household registration, and Wang Hong is once again entangled.

Wang Xin, a self-media practitioner, also encountered the same problem as Wang Hong. This year, she registered her own company. From the beginning of its establishment, Wang Xin has paid social security on time for all employees, including herself. "It's responsible for them, but it's also responsible for yourself." Wang Xin said.

Explore a universal social security system

Data show that today, China's medical insurance coverage rate exceeds 95%, the number of insured people exceeds 13.4 billion, pension insurance covers about 10.5 billion people, and the number of people insured by unemployment and work-related injury insurance also exceeds <> million. However, for some flexible employees, whether it is medical care, pension, work-related injury or unemployment, it is still not covered.

Wang Tianyu, deputy director of the Social Law Office of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the main reason for the low participation rate of flexible employees is voluntary contributions. Compared with the participation of employees, employers have the obligation to pay on behalf of employees, and the entire operation process is more standardized and mandatory. Second, the income of flexibly employed people is relatively unstable, which leads to a relatively low participation rate.

He further pointed out that from the perspective of social security structure, in addition to basic pension insurance and medical insurance, work-related injury insurance also needs to establish a system entrance for flexible employees. At present, the Regulations on Work-related Injury Insurance and the Social Insurance Law only provide for work-related injury insurance for employment with standardized labor relations, but flexible employment has strong autonomy, and there are too many changes in working hours and work content to have a unified standard.

The reporter noted that the first administrative regulation in the field of social insurance handling "Regulations on Social Insurance Management" will be implemented on December 12 this year, which clearly states that it is necessary to expand the coverage of social insurance, implement the abolition of household registration restrictions on flexible employment personnel to participate in the basic old-age insurance for enterprise employees in the place of employment, and organize flexible employment personnel who have not yet participated in the basic old-age insurance for enterprise employees to participate in the basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents in accordance with the regulations, and at the same time, accelerate the full coverage of the work-related injury insurance system for occupational groups. Focus on promoting the pilot project of occupational injury protection for employees in new forms of employment.

Wang Tianyu suggested that the underlying design of social security should be carried out, the national social security system should be explored, the coverage of social security should be expanded, and differentiation should be implemented according to different employment groups on the basis of the bottom line, so as to distinguish different types of insurance, and determine the payment method and treatment method. In addition, it is possible to appropriately reduce the participation rate and payment base of flexible employees, increase government subsidies, form an incentive mechanism, and increase their enthusiasm for participating in insurance. (Workers' Daily)