2025-01-08
16 分钟Bloomberg Audio Studios.
Podcasts, radio, news.
This is Gao Panchan.
He's 22, just graduated from college and lives in China's Southern city of Shenzhen.
Gao wants to become a full-time social media influencer.
He posts video blogs of his life and does freelance work on the side too.
He makes about $1,000 a month, a moderate income in Shenzhen.
But Gao still appreciates the finer things in life.
Here he is on Xiaohongshu, China's Instagram,
saying that he's treating himself to a luxurious first-class flight to South Korea for quick getaway.
But to afford the occasional splurge, Gao decided to scrap one major expense from his budget, his pension payments.
It's about $200.
And he told Bloomberg, that's a fifth of his monthly income.
Money that Gao says he'd rather spend enjoying himself.
Gao says most of his friends don't pay into the pension fund either.
If their line of work, like freelancing, makes the payments voluntary.
And across China, there are millions like Gao who are boycotting the pension plan.
Based on Bloomberg's calculation of data from Chinese Think tank,
tens of millions of China's young workers have suspended contribution to China's pension plans,
and that puts additional pressure on a system that's already wobbling.