ABSTRACT
Although China originally established its social security system to soften the impact of State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) privatization on urban industrial workers, a comprehensive safety-net is considered fundamental in creating a stable society and reduce inequality within a capitalist market system. Moreover, a basic social security system is key for shifting from an export oriented development strategy that China pursued for the last three decades, to an internal demand-driven economic growth strategy based on domestic consumer spending. This is particularly important in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis that has translated into an economic downturn resulting in a large number of redundancies. This will mainly affect the already vulnerable migrants who lack both job and social security guarantees. Addressing this challenge requires the creation of an overarching national social security system, which would replace the current fragmented safety-net provisions that provide inadequate coverage.
