Fewer Companies Joined Pilot Annuity Program for Workers Last Year

(Beijing) – Official data show that fewer companies joined an experimental annuity program that gives workers in the private sector extra income on top of their regular pensions last year, a problem that one analyst blamed on companies feeling burdened by social security benefits they provide their workers.

Some 7,200 firms joined the pilot, which the government calls the "enterprise annuity program," in 2014, adding 2.37 million employees to the experiment, data published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on March 31 show. Some 11,400 companies joined in 2013.