On October 10, the State Council Information Office held a press conference at which Li Zhong, vice minister of Human Resources and Social Security, reported enrollment figures for China’s basic pension, unemployment, and work-injury insurance. As of the end of September, the numbers stood at 1.079 billion, 251 million, and 327 million respectively. Li stated that the next step would be to use methods including “data to find people” to locate those not yet enrolled and mobilize them to participate, with a goal of keeping the basic pension enrollment rate stably above 95 percent during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030).
Penalties are being upgraded in parallel. The State Administration of Taxation’s “National Taxation Administrative Penalty Discretion Standards (2026 Edition),” issued on September 28, takes effect on November 1. Social insurance fees are formally brought into the nationwide unified tax administrative penalty discretion system. Under the rules, employers that fail to make up unpaid contributions after being ordered to do so face fines in three tiers, with the highest being three times the unpaid amount. The larger the arrears and the higher their proportion of the amount due, the heavier the penalty.
Online, the announcements prompted pushback. Many uninsured people posted videos saying things such as “We can barely afford to eat—where is the money for social security?” and “Rather than pressing us to pay, we need a job that can support a family.”
In August 2025 the Supreme People’s Court issued a judicial interpretation clarifying that any agreement or promise between employers and workers not to pay social security is invalid. Workers may terminate their contracts and claim economic compensation if employers fail to pay as required by law; unpaid amounts must be made up and may incur late-payment fees.
Ordinary Citizens: “No Money, How to Pay?”
Epoch Times reporters interviewed residents in several provinces. All names used below are aliases.
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