Yesterday, the provincial government issued a notice to promote, on a categorized basis, adjustments to the contribution rates for basic old-age insurance premiums paid by employers in our province, thereby optimizing the business environment, balancing the social insurance burdens on employers, and safeguarding the social insurance rights and interests of employees.

As required by the notice, starting this year, our province will gradually align the contribution rates for basic old-age insurance among employers across the province within a range of 12% to 16%. Meanwhile, the contribution rate for urban individual business operators and urban flexibly employed persons will remain uniformly set at 20%. At the same time, we will actively promote the integration of the “low-threshold entry, low-standard benefits” old-age insurance scheme with the unified system. After the adjustment of the contribution rates for basic old-age insurance among employers in coordinated regions, if the contribution rate under the “dual-low” approach becomes close to that of the unified system, we should actively create favorable conditions to implement the integration at an appropriate time. If there is still a significant gap between the contribution rate under the “dual-low” approach and that of the unified system, we may allow the “dual-low” approach to continue being applied for a certain period, and then proceed with integration once conditions are ripe.