The national treasury’s spending on social security this year was 80 percent more than last year, sources from the ongoing national meeting on fiscal affairs said yesterday.

The money was spent on pensions, unemployment payments and subsidies for laid-off workers and low-income urban residents.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the central government will further increase social security expenditures in next year’s budget. The aim is to guarantee prompt and full payment of pensions and subsidies for unemployed workers to maintain minimum living standards.

Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng said that in order to establish a unified, standardized social security system the country will shift from the current “three bottom lines of social security” to a dual bottom-line system consisting of unemployment insurance and a minimum standard for urban residents.

The current three bottom lines of social security in China consist of unemployment insurance and minimum standards for unemployed and urban residents.

(Xinhua 12/15/2000)