Research On Scheme Of Minimum Standard Of Living In China

With the deepening of reform and opening-up policy and the establishment of a socialist market economy, great changes have taken place in the structure and size of the urban poor. There is a rapid increase in the poor population among workers and employees, the laid-off, the jobless, and the retirees, especially in the process of readjusting the ownership structures, establishing the modern enterprise system, and improving the structures and codes of distribution, which appears to be a new issue facing the urban assistance. It is urgent to reform and perfect the traditional social security system, for its narrow coverage, low standard, non-standard working system, and inability to adapt to the new requirements of the socialist market economy.The Scheme of Minimum Standard of Living, forming the "three-stage guarantee" together with the old-age insurance system and the system of basic cost of living allowances for the laid-off workers and the unemployment insurance, is playing an ever-important role as a new type of social assistance system and the last "Safety Net" of the Social Security System. The thesis compares the patterns of minimum standard of living, adopted by the three cities of Shanghai, Wuhan and Chongqing, which have exerted notable influences on the development of the Scheme of Minimum Standard of Living. Based on the rich experiences from the international social security systems and from ten years of development of our Scheme for urban residents, a research is conducted on the current system frame and situation of the Scheme, and an analysis is made of the Scheme itself and the problems existing in the functioning of the Scheme. To guarantee citizens' basic rights, maintain social stability, and promote economic development, the thesis suggests some strategies for further developing and perfecting the Scheme from five aspects, ie. building comprehensive social security system, perfecting social supervision mechanism, improving fiscal appropriation system, establishing and perfecting the sound working system, launching social donation activities and bringing the role of charities into full play.