A record 4.6 billion yuan (US$554.2 million) has been allocated by
the Chinese government as a fallback fund for local governments to
guarantee the basic livelihoods of more Chinese.
This is the largest input from state revenue since the Regulation
on Guaranteeing Urban Residents' Basic Livelihoods was enacted in
1999. About 44 percent of the country's total projected expenditure
in 2002 will go to the construction of a bottom-line security
system.
Dubbed the country's "Most Basic Security Network", the system is
targeted at urban households whose per capita monthly income falls
below the official bottom-line, which varies in different regions
and averages 152 yuan (US$18.3 ).
Of
the nearly 20 million Chinese qualified to receive livelihood
guarantees, some 13 million have benefited, most of whom are
laid-off workers, retirees and their family members.
Between January 2001 and January 2002, some 5.2 billion yuan
(US$626.5 million) was spent by both central and local financing,
up 76 percent year-on-year.
The yearly input of central government from 1999 to 2001 was 400
million yuan (US$48.2 million), 800 million yuan (US$96.4 million)
and 2.3 billion yuan (US$277 million) respectively.
To
date, all qualifying needy in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong,
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Chongqing have been covered by the
system.
Economically well-off provinces like Guangdong and Zhejiang have
established integrated bottom-line security system for both
urbanites and rural dwellers.
Achievements have been made in other regions where pilot basic
livelihood guarantee programs for farmers are being operated.
To
date, a total of 3.438 million farmers have become beneficiaries of
these programs.
To
further expand the coverage of basic livelihood guarantees, Chinese
governments at various levels have started special finance accounts
to secure the supply of the fund.
Rules for both application for governmental subsidies and auditing
have been established and procedures on the distribution of the
fund widely standardized.
An
information management system aiming to link all administrative
regions above city levels will also be in use by the end of June.
By that time, the operation costs of civil affair departments will
be drastically reduced.
Given that most of the Chinese to be re-employed are those aged
over 35, modestly educated and single-skilled, China is faced
within increasing re-employment problem and a heavier burden on the
implementation of the bottom-line security system.
To
alleviate the pressure, all local governments and departments of
labor and social affairs have taken it as a top priority to
cultivate new business growth sectors and explore more job
opportunities.
After its pilot program in Shanghai in 1993, the bottom-line
security system for urban dwellers was widely spread in China in
1997.
( May 29, 2002)