Meanwhile, the jobless can still count on unemployment insurance - if they have it. According to the regulations at the re-employment centers, those registered there who fail to secure new jobs within three years will be automatically removed from their list and lose their financial subsidies. Unemployment insurance has been around in China since the mid- 1980s. Since then, some 94.8 million workers have been covered by it, with about 15.8 million so far benefitting from payments. In June last year, the government raised the required contribution to the unemployment fund from one percent of an enterprise's total payroll value to three percent.
Firms are also no longer responsible for paying the entire contribution.
Rather, workers must now add one percent of their own salaries to the fund. Last January, the State Council issued its Regulations on Unemployment Insurance, initiating several major reforms in the unemployment insurance fund system, including fund collection. In September 1997, the State Council issued a circular demanding that all cities establish the basic living social security guarantee system before the end of 1999. By the end of September this year, all cities and towns at or above county level had fulfilled the requirement.