The Impact of New Rural Social Pension Insurance on Labor Supply in Rural China
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Ye, Xiao-Wan
Abstract
As the world’s most populous country, China is facing the increasingly serious problem of an aging population. Of the growing aging population, 70% come from rural areas. Due to the lack of a public pension system in the rural areas, the pension issue has become a major challenge for the rural elderly population. The New Rural Social Pension Insurance (NRSPI) system implemented in 2009 has filled the gap of China’s rural pension system that has been suspended since 1997. However, whether or not it can improve the economic well-beings of rural elders requires further evaluation. In this study, China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011 national baseline data was adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of the NRSPI, from the perspective of labor supply.
Empirical findings show that the NRSPI has a “crowding-out effect” on the labor supply of rural elders. The policy significantly reduces the working hours but has an insignificant impact on the probability of participating in the labor force. The “ceaseless toil” working conditions of rural elders in China have not been fundamentally changed, mainly due to the excessively low pension standard and the short implementation time of the NRSPI. The results also reveal that rural elders aged below and above 60 years old respond differently to the NRSPI. Due to the income effect, the crowding-out effect of the NRSPI for rural elders aged above 60 years old is more obvious than the ones aged below 60. In addition, the crowing-out impacts of the NRSPI on working hours are also larger, for men and those with poor health, low family economic level, and under the self-employed occupation category.
Accordingly, the policy recommendation may include extending the NRSPI coverage, increasing the pension income level, and protecting low-income individuals’ right to join insurance.
Subjects
老齡化
新農保
勞動參與
工作時間
Type
thesis
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