The accumulated balance of China's social insurance funds topped 2.98 trillion yuan ($480.94 billion) by the end of 2011.
China's colossal pension gap is expected to increase its fiscal pressure and government debt risk with an ever-increasing aging population.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is soliciting public opinion on temporary rules for the transfer of pension accounts among three different types of pension programs. These rules, due to take effect next year, are meant to protect the rights and interests of migrant workers and the urban unemployed and will hopefully be the prelude to the real integration of rural laborers into the cities as local residents.
China's urban and rural pension insurance systems covered 459 million people at the end of October, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said.
China and the Republic of Korea on Monday signed an agreement on social insurance to avoid dual payment of premiums for pension and employment insurance.
The gross revenue of China's social insurance funds totaled 2.04 trillion yuan ($323.68 billion) in the first nine months, up 24.6 percent from the same period last year, official data said on Thursday.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday urged for more government spending on the social pension insurance system to address the country's aging problem.
The gap in China's social security insurance fund is stirring concerns that the retirement age may be postponed to 65.
The top social security fund administrator has suggested making people work longer and receive their pensions later to offset a pension fund shortfall.
"Pensioners who live in the north can spend their winter in Hainan," said Xu Zaogui, director of the Xueliang Zhang Public Welfare Foundation Ltd., while explaining the Foundation's pension program to China Daily. Pensioners can move around the country during different seasons, once the nationwide network of apartments for the aged is built.
More than 120,000 foreigners have subscribed to China's social security system so far, Hu Xiaoyi, China's vice minister of human resources and social security, said Monday.
More than 180 million Chinese were receiving their basic pensions in August with some 600 million people covered by the nation's pension system, an official said Monday.
Future retirees may face the risk of getting a "bad check", as individual pension accounts are increasingly underfunded.
China's national pension fund on Wednesday announced a new list of global investment managers to help manage the giant social security fund.
The warnings of a possible future pension crunch may discourage people from putting their savings in a pension system that is as murky as it is unfair.
China's social security funds are stable and operating safely, after the National Audit Office audited 18 types of social security funds.
A local government promised to investigate a case in which more than 60,000 villagers were reportedly turned down when they tried to get their endowment insurance.
Subjecting the pension funds to the capital market may be a viable way out for China's fast ageing population.
China's social security fund manager on Friday warned of a "huge capital gap" amid future waves of pension payments to retirees as the country enters a period of rapid aging.
China plans to establish a system that will efficiently help with the transfer and continuation of workers' social security accounts after they change workplaces.
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