Seminar on social security for workers in flexible employment

The EU-China Project “Improving China’s Institutional Capacity towards Universal Social Protection” organized a seminar in Beijing on social security for workers in flexible employment.

Press release | 16 December 2020
Beijing(ILO News) – The EU-China Project “Improving China’s Institutional Capacity towards Universal Social Protection” (“the project”) organized a seminar in Beijing on social security for workers in flexible employment. The seminar was part of the ongoing research carried out by the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security (CALSS) – the research institute of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MoHRSS) - under the leadership of its president Mr Jin Weigang. The seminar convened about 50 participants from the MoHRSS and its branches in nine provinces, the ILO, the EU Delegation in China and academics. It was jointly chaired by Mr Xu Yanjun, Director-General Level Counsel of the Social Insurance Administration of MOHRSS and Mr Luis Frota, ILO Project Manager.

The CALSS research jointly commissioned by the ILO and MOHRSS aims to assess China’s social security coverage of workers in non-standard forms of employment, with a focus on platform workers, migrants and women and identify measures to close regulatory and administrative gaps and improve portability of social security benefits. The CALSS research team carried out field studies in Zhejiang, Sichuan and Guangdong provinces. This seminar was an opportunity for MOHRSS technical departments and officials from various provinces to delve into the research questions.

Four thematic sessions were held on work/occupational injury insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance and social insurance administrative services, during which the perspectives of Chinese policy makers, practitioners, and academics were crossed with an international review of policies and practices. In-depth discussions on regulatory and administrative barriers for extending social security coverage to flexible workers took place relating to various local initiatives aimed at improving protection. A review of international good practices, in particular case studies (from Canada, Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden) in regulation and administration of social security benefits for non-standard workers was presented online by Mel Cousins, an international social security expert with 20 years’ experience in China in the field of social security. Videos to introduce international good practices on each topic were released.

As a follow up, a second seminar will be organized in the first quarter of 2021 to validate the preliminary findings of the research. The final version will be released at the International Conference on Universal Coverage at the end November 2021.