China has unveiled new measures to unify the country's pension system in a bid to level out the massive pension gap between the public sector and those working in enterprises.
Under the new scheme, about 40 million staff in the public sector will now have to start paying for their pension plans.
According to the plan, employees in government agencies and public institutions will pay 8 percent of their monthly salaries into the plan, while their employers will pay 20 percent of the employee's total salary each month.
Jin Weigang, an official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, says the reform aims at equality.
"Currently, we have different mechanisms for the pension system, so there are differences in treatments, especially in government agencies. Their employees don't have to pay for the pension, but they enjoy a relatively higher treatment than enterprise employees. The reform could settle the disputes of equality on this matter."
Under the dual pension system, employees in a state agency can get 80 to 90 percent of their salary after retirement while the employees of a private business may only get 30 to 60 percent.
Experts say the reform will relieve the burden on the private sector and encourage free flow of staff between public and private firms.
