14. Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS)
| Minister: | Tian Chengping |
| Vice Ministers: | Sun Baoshu Zhang Xiaojian Liu Yongfu Hu Xiaoyi Yuan Yanpeng |
| Address: | 12 Hepingli Zhongjie, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100716 |
| Telephone: | 86-10-8420-1438 (office) |
| Facsimile: | 86-10-8422-3056 (office) |
| Website: | www.molss.gov.cn |
| Departments: | General Office; Legal System; Planning and Financial Affairs; Training and Employment; Labor and Wage; Old-Age Insurance; Unemployment Insurance; Medical Insurance; Workers Compensation Insurance; Rural Social Insurance; Social Insurance Fund Supervision; International Cooperation; Personnel and Education; CCP Committee; Bureau of Retired Officials |
In 1998, MLSS assumed certain functions of the former Ministry of Labor and the social welfare departments of the ministries of agriculture, personnel, and public health. The primary tasks of MLSS are the resettlement of laid-off state-enterprise workers and the management of national medical care and pension issues. MLSS also manages the insurance of employees in government institutions and organizes and manages technical grading exams for enterprise workers. The ministry manages public medical costs and is in charge of medical insurance reform. It also cooperates with the Ministry of Civil Affairs to oversee social insurance in rural areas. The ministry remains responsible for forecasting and macro guidance of pension and other social insurance systems.
Among the biggest changes of the 1998 restructuring is that MLSS no longer approves enterprise recruitment. As a result, Chinese partners of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) have greater control over hiring decisions. The size of the payroll of restructured state enterprises is also no longer under ministry jurisdiction, but must still be set according to local average salary levels and total wage bills. MLSS no longer draws up each enterprise's employee assessment policies, but creates a benchmark for enterprises to follow when drawing up their own plans.
Return to PART V: State Council 28 Ministries and Commissions