China Turns to Big Data to Find Uninsured Workers, Sparking Backlash

Chinese authorities say they will use government data to identify people who are not enrolled in social insurance and encourage them to join the system, prompting criticism from Chinese internet users who say unemployment and low or unstable incomes are the bigger problem.

At an Oct. 10 press conference, Li Zhong, spokesperson and vice minister of China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said that as of the end of September, 1.079 billion people were enrolled in basic pension insurance, 251 million in unemployment insurance and 327 million in work-related injury insurance. According to the ministry’s official transcript of the press conference, the three social insurance funds had a combined accumulated balance of 11.2 trillion yuan.

Li said authorities would continue expanding participation through policy changes and what he called using “data to find people.”

“There are still some people who are not insured,” Li said, adding that authorities would use various methods to locate and encourage them to enroll.

The ministry said it aims to keep basic pension insurance participation above 95 percent during China’s 2026–2030 Five-Year Plan period while increasing enrollment in unemployment and work-related injury insurance.

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Beijing pushes to expand social insurance coverage

The government’s efforts will focus in part on people in flexible employment, migrant workers and workers in newer platform-based industries. In the same Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security briefing, Li said authorities want to encourage more of those workers to join the employee pension system, including some currently covered under the residents’ pension system.

The ministry also said it plans to develop mechanisms under which employers, online platforms and workers share contribution costs.

Beijing has already taken steps to strengthen enforcement of existing social insurance requirements. A Supreme People’s Court judicial interpretation that took effect Sept. 1, 2025, established that agreements between employers and workers to waive legally required social insurance contributions are invalid. The Supreme People’s Court said employers remain legally responsible for making required contributions even when an employee has agreed not to participate.

Authorities have also increased scrutiny of gaps in coverage. In July, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration directed local governments to strengthen monitoring of improper insurance classifications, avoidance of required participation and unusual interruptions in contributions, according to the government notice published by the State Taxation Administration.

China has separately expanded occupational injury coverage for platform workers. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced in July that a pilot program covering workers in sectors such as food delivery, ride-hailing and local freight transportation had been expanded nationwide. Nearly 30 million people had participated by the end of June.

By the end of September, Li said participation in the occupational injury program had risen to 37.27 million.

Backlash focuses on whether workers can afford to pay

Li’s remarks about using data to identify people outside the social insurance system quickly generated debate on Chinese social media, with many users questioning whether people were uninsured because authorities could not find them or because they could not afford the contributions.

A series of Weibo posts collected by Sina showed users reacting skeptically to the government’s “data to find people” language. Some argued that authorities should focus on why workers are not enrolled rather than simply locating them.

Weibo commentator “Qingning Riyue,” for example, wrote that many flexible workers have unstable incomes and must shoulder their insurance contributions themselves. In a post carried by Sina, the commentator said many such workers earn between 3,000 and 5,000 yuan per month while social insurance costs can consume 1,000 to 2,000 yuan, leaving little after rent and food.

“People are not opposed to retirement security,” the commentator wrote, arguing that simply encouraging enrollment does not solve the underlying problem of insufficient income.

Other users made similar arguments. One Weibo post collected by Sina said some uninsured workers are not difficult to locate but simply cannot afford another fixed expense after paying for housing, food and family needs.

The backlash has also fueled speculation that Beijing’s enrollment campaign reflects growing pressure on China’s pension system. Current figures, however, do not show that the national system is presently “running out of money.” The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reported an accumulated balance of 11.2 trillion yuan across the basic pension, unemployment and work-related injury funds as of September and described the system as financially secure.

Long-term demographic pressures remain substantial. A 2019 actuarial report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences projected that the accumulated balance of the urban employee basic pension fund could peak at about 6.99 trillion yuan in 2027 before declining and potentially being exhausted by 2035. China City News, published by People’s Daily, reported that the study projected annual expenditures could begin exceeding revenues in 2028 under the assumptions used at the time.

The forecast did not mean pension payments would automatically end in 2035. Zheng Bingwen, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Center for International Social Security Studies, wrote that the projection reflected the possible depletion of accumulated reserves and highlighted the need for pension reform as China’s population ages. His analysis published by China Daily called for measures including greater investment of pension assets and broader reforms to improve the system’s sustainability.

Government subsidies already play a significant role in financing the system. China’s Ministry of Finance accounts for 2023 show that fiscal subsidies to national social insurance funds totaled approximately 2.43 trillion yuan that year. The figure covers fiscal subsidies across the national system and should not be characterized, as the original draft did, as more than 2.4 trillion yuan provided solely by the central government.