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Spare a thought for pensioners

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-28 11:08

Reports say the State Council will raise the pension of superannuated corporation employees by 140 yuan from Jan 1, 2011. This is welcome news because most of the retirees depend on social security, but the government has to take measures to help retirees who are most in need, says an article on hinews.cn. Excerpts:

Though retirees are concentrated in large and middle-sized cities, there are many differences among them. The basic retirement benefits are different for retirees of different organizations. The pensions of retired public servants and employees of monopoly State-owned enterprises are much higher than those of ordinary companies' retirees.

Therefore, the government should focus on improving the lot of the needy, instead of taking measures to increase pensions of all retirees.

Increasing pensions equally for all retirees may not be a good way of narrowing the gap between the poor and the rich. Raising the per capita income of all retirees does not necessarily mean an improvement in the financial condition of those who need better retirement benefits just to live a decent live.

Moreover, what the superannuated (or, for that matter, all people) really care about is not higher income but greater purchasing power. The consumer price index reached 5.1 percent in November, much higher than the 3 percent that the government had promised, and people fear prices of necessities could rise further. Hence, the most important thing for the government to do is to curb inflation.

But the overall increase in pension is an encouraging policy, because it shows that the government is trying to help retired people.