By Hua Ruoyun & Gong Sen, China Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD)

Research Report, No.68, 2019 (Total 5568) 2019-5-9

Abstract: In 2012, the Central Economic Work Conference touched upon the issue of people’s livelihood and came up with the principle of “ensuring the basic living standards, giving prominence to priorities, improving the systems and guiding public opinion”. From then on, Chins’ social policies have evolved from a fragmented, equitable and simultaneous mode to an integrated, systematic and coordinated one, focusing on co-construction with shared benefits. By adhering to a problem-oriented approach, social policies in the new era follow the new development concept and adapt to the needs of new industrial revolution. After analyzing domestic and foreign experience, this paper, based on changes in the social principal contradictions of China and in light of the trend of new industrial revolution, proposes two suggestions to improve social policies in the new era. First, by adhering to the approach of co-construction with shared benefits and laying emphasis on the improvement of people’s livelihood, we need to focus on promoting social investment projects including employment, education and health care, appropriately manage social consumption projects such as the minimum living allowances and public pensions and properly integrate social security with the endeavour made respectively by employers, families and individuals. Second, according to the revised plan on the reform of people’s livelihood, we need to improve policy measures by category in key areas and in various major fields of social policies.

Key words: social policies, new era, new industrial revolution