Zhao Jiping: Safeguarding and Improving People's Livelihood in the Process of Chinese Modernization
Common prosperity for all people is an essential characteristic of Chinese-path modernization. The guarantee and improvement of people's livelihoods is not only an important manifestation of this essential characteristic but also a critical yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of modernization. Looking back at the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China has woven the world's largest, most densely graded, and most extensive social safety net for people's livelihoods. Looking forward to the "15th Five-Year Plan," we must be guided by the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee to think prospectively and systematically about the new process of guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods.
I. The Important Position of Livelihood Work in the Construction of Chinese-path Modernization
In Chinese-path modernization, people's livelihoods are of paramount importance. All the work of the Party and the government is aimed at helping the common people live a happier life. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee pointed out: "Guaranteeing and improving people’s livelihoods in the course of development is a major task of Chinese-path modernization." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, economic and social development must adhere to putting the people first, taking the satisfaction of the people's ever-growing needs for a better life as the fundamental goal, increasing the intensity of guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods, and solidly promoting common prosperity for all. This series of important assertions profoundly reveals the inherent unity between livelihood work and Chinese-path modernization, highlighting the important position of livelihood work in the construction of Chinese-path modernization.
Livelihood work is the starting point and the ultimate goal of Chinese-path modernization. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized: "Realizing the people's yearning for a better life is the starting point and the ultimate goal of Chinese-path modernization." This assertion demonstrates that in the grand narrative of Chinese-path modernization, livelihood work is the value-based main thread and the practical navigation mark that runs through the entire process. Placing livelihood work at the strategic height of being the starting point and ultimate goal of Chinese-path modernization reflects the profound "people-centeredness" of Chinese-path modernization. Only by persevering in guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods and solidly promoting common prosperity can we gather the majestic power of the people and promote the steady and long-term progress of Chinese-path modernization.
Livelihood work is the cornerstone for the stable development of Chinese-path modernization. Xi Jinping emphasized: "When livelihoods are stable, people’s hearts are stable, and society is stable." Livelihood work is like the solid foundation supporting the edifice of Chinese-path modernization; it carries the people's yearning for a better life and maintains the long-term peace and stability of the country. Solid livelihood work can effectively alleviate social anxiety, resolve social contradictions, and enhance the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security, enabling Chinese-path modernization to move forward steadily on a solid foundation of popular well-being.
Livelihood work is the power engine driving Chinese-path modernization. On one hand, strengthening livelihood work can improve residents' consumption capacity and willingness to consume, pulling up domestic demand and providing a strategic pivot for constructing the new development pattern. Currently, our country is focusing on constructing a new development pattern in which domestic circulation is the mainstay and domestic and international dual circulation promote each other. Internal demand is the key link in the domestic circulation, and the "living water" [1] of internal demand lies in the continuous improvement of people's livelihoods. When the people have more stable jobs, higher incomes, and more complete social security, only then will they dare to consume, be willing to consume, and only then can consumption potential be fully released. On the other hand, strengthening livelihood work can cultivate and form new economic growth points. Investment in livelihoods in fields such as education, medical care, elderly care, childcare, culture, and sports can itself give rise to a huge service-based consumption market and cultivate new economic growth points, becoming an important driving force for Chinese-path modernization.
II. Major Achievements of Livelihood Work during the "14th Five-Year Plan" Period
The "14th Five-Year Plan" period is the first five-year planning period in which our country, after finishing the comprehensive building of a moderately prosperous society and realizing the First Centenary Goal, took advantage of the momentum to embark on a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country. The "Outline" of the 14th Five-Year Plan proposed seven livelihood indicators, accounting for more than one-third of the twenty main indicators, the highest proportion in any five-year plan. During this period, facing a complex and severe international environment and the arduous and heavy tasks of domestic reform, development, and stability, the Party and the state always adhered to the people-centered development philosophy. Through continuously increasing investment, improving systems, and implementing targeted measures, multiple livelihood indicators exceeded the targets of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Historic achievements were made in key areas such as education, employment, and social security, promoting the fruits of reform and development to benefit all people more equitably.
(1) Education achieved simultaneous improvement in equity and quality
Education is an important cornerstone of national rejuvenation and social progress, as well as an effective channel for unblocking social mobility. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the state adhered to the strategy of prioritizing the development of education, continuously increased investment in education, and promoted the simultaneous improvement of educational equity and quality.
Significant results were achieved in expanding the quality of basic education. Comparing on a global scale, China's basic education has reached the average level of high-income countries in the world, providing a solid guarantee for equitable education. First, the level of popularization and universal access to preschool education significantly improved. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, "the gross enrollment rate for preschool education increased by 27.5 percentage points from 64.5% in 2012 to 92%, and this year the one year of free preschool education benefited more than 12 million children." Second, compulsory education [2] achieved basic balanced development. Students in urban and rural compulsory education are all exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees, and "basic balance has been achieved in 2,895 county-level administrative regions nationwide for compulsory education." Third, the education guarantee mechanism for special groups has become more sound. For special groups such as the children of internal migrants and school-age children with disabilities, various regions have effectively protected their educational rights by expanding the supply of public school places, optimizing enrollment processes, constructing "multi-level placement systems," and promoting the "combination of medical care and education" model based on actual conditions.
Progress was made in the quality and expansion of higher education. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, higher education achieved a historical leap, not only building the world's largest higher education system but also achieving significant results in equalization and high-quality development. First, higher education entered the stage of universalization. "The gross enrollment rate of higher education increased by more than double from 30% in 2012 to 60.8% now, entering the internationally recognized stage of universalization." Second, progress was made in the balanced development of higher education. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, we "continued to implement special enrollment plans of key universities for candidates from rural areas and areas that have escaped poverty, with a cumulative enrollment of 1.235 million people, promoting equity in enrollment opportunities between regions and between urban and rural areas." Third, the supply of high-quality higher education continued to increase steadily. From 2024 to 2025, the state has been in an orderly manner promoting the expansion of high-quality undergraduate education, increasing the undergraduate enrollment scale of "Double First-Class" [3] construction universities for two consecutive years, with a cumulative expansion of nearly 36,000 students over two years, effectively putting into practice the people's demand to "attend a good university."
(2) The employment situation remained generally stable, and the employment structure continued to optimize
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, our country implemented the employment-first strategy, forming a systematic policy framework of fiscal incentives, tax and fee reductions, and financial support. We built a full-chain support system including temporary reductions in social security premiums, refunds of unemployment insurance for stabilizing jobs, and subsidies for employment and entrepreneurship, achieving a generally stable employment situation, continuous optimization of the employment structure, and steady improvement in employment quality.
The employment situation remained generally stable, continuously strengthening the bottom line of people's livelihoods. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, facing the pandemic of the century and the pressure of economic transformation, the Party and the state issued a series of employment support policies according to the timing and situation. We cumulatively spent more than 470 billion yuan in employment subsidy funds and issued 138.9 billion yuan in job stabilization refund funds. We innovatively implemented a "two-wheel drive" model of "macro policy floor + micro entity activation," successfully weaving a dense employment safety net and maintaining a good situation of overall stability. New employment over five years exceeded expectations, and the unemployment rate returned to a reasonable range. As of the end of August, cumulative new urban employment reached 59.21 million, exceeding the target task of 55 million. The average surveyed urban unemployment rate for the first four years was 5.3%, lower than the expected control target of 5.5%.
The employment structure continued to be optimized, gradually adapting to development needs. The continuous optimization of the employment structure is an important indicator of high-quality development. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's employment structure continued to optimize across dimensions such as urban-rural distribution, industrial adaptation, and quality improvement, forming a positive interaction with development needs. On one hand, the urban-rural employment pattern accelerated its reshaping, and the capacity for urban employment absorption significantly enhanced. At the end of 2024, the number of urban employed persons nationwide reached 473.45 million, an increase of 10.74 million over the end of 2020, with the proportion rising to 64.5%, while the proportion of rural employed persons dropped to 35.5%. The trend of the labor force gathering in cities and towns adapted to the needs of new-type urbanization and industrial upgrading. On the other hand, the contingent of skilled personnel continued to grow, driving the continuous optimization of the employment structure. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the growth of China's skilled talent pool became an important driver. Through the upgrading of talent supply and its adaptation to industrial demand, the employment market was pushed toward a skill-intensive and quality-oriented transformation. Currently, the total number of skilled workers in China has exceeded 220 million, among whom high-skilled talents have surpassed 72 million, achieving significant growth compared to the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan."
Employment quality improved steadily, further interpreting the "warmth" of development. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China achieved significant results in steadily improving employment quality through the growth of workers' incomes and the protection of their rights. On one hand, wage income increased steadily. During the first four years of the "14th Five-Year Plan," the position of wage income as the main engine of resident income was further consolidated. From 2021 to 2024, the per capita wage income of national residents increased from 19,629 yuan to 23,327 yuan, and its proportion in per capita disposable income grew from 55.9% to 56.5%. On the other hand, the system for protecting workers' rights and interests became more perfect, especially in responding to "new forms of employment" [4] and making substantive progress in governing wage arrears. For new forms of employment, the state issued guiding opinions and special policies for the protection of the rights and interests of workers in these forms, clarifying the labor protection responsibilities of enterprises, improving the basic rights protection systems for labor remuneration, rest, and labor safety, and innovatively launching occupational injury protection to fasten the "safety belt" for personnel in new forms of employment. At the same time, China has continuously improved mechanisms for labor relations consultation and coordination, supervision, and law enforcement. Through full-chain supervision and extraordinary measures, it has strengthened the governance of wage arrears. Since the "14th Five-Year Plan," we have "announced and handled more than 10,000 cases of major illegal acts regarding wage arrears, and transferred more than 14,000 cases suspected of the crime of refusing to pay labor remuneration, effectively curbing malicious wage arrears."
(3) The social security system with distinct Chinese characteristics has become more sound
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the development of China's social security undertakings entered the fast lane. The systemic, holistic, and synergistic nature of the reforms continued to increase, achieving historic breakthroughs in coverage, institutional building, and security effectiveness. A social security system with distinct Chinese characteristics has become more sound.
The coverage achieved a historic leap, and the universal security net became increasingly dense. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China deeply implemented the universal participation plan, taking key groups as breakthroughs to continuously expand the coverage of security, building the world's largest and most functionally complete social security system. Currently, the number of people participating in basic old-age, unemployment, and work-related injury insurance nationwide has reached 1.072 billion, 246 million, and 302 million respectively, representing increases of more than 73 million, 29 million, and 34 million compared to the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan." The participation rate for basic old-age insurance increased from 91% to over 95%, exceeding the 95% participation target set in the "14th Five-Year Plan." Since the "Universal Participation Plan" was first proposed at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the state has continued to promote the inclusion of groups such as migrant workers, flexible employees, and practitioners in new forms of employment into the security system, demonstrating the effectiveness of the principle of "insurance for all who should be insured." Furthermore, "revolving around recording a lifetime, guaranteeing a lifetime, and serving a lifetime, a five-level social security management system and service network—from the central government to provinces, cities, counties, and townships (streets)—has basically taken shape and extended to urban communities and vast rural areas." The continuous expansion of China's social security coverage has received high praise from the international community.
Institutional reforms progressed in depth, and the pattern of unified national planning basically took shape.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the reform of China’s social security system entered a new stage of systematic integration, synergy, and efficiency. Top-level design of the system has been continuously strengthened, and breakthrough progress has been made in key areas. First, a critical step was taken toward the national pooling of pension insurance, significantly enhancing the adjustment capacity of social security funds. In January 2022, the national pooling system for basic pension insurance for enterprise employees was launched, breaking long-standing provincial pooling barriers and establishing a central adjustment system to achieve the rational allocation of funds on a national scale. Second, the pooling level of unemployment and work-related injury insurance has been significantly raised, making system operations more efficient. By the end of 2023, unemployment insurance achieved provincial pooling, and work-related injury insurance fully realized provincial-level unified collection and expenditure of funds, strengthening the social security functions of mutual aid and risk-sharing. Third, the systemic coordination of the social security system has been continuously enhanced, leading to smoother inter-system connectivity. On one hand, top-level design has been used to break institutional barriers and increase systematicity. The state has focused on building a multi-level and multi-pillar social security system, strengthening policy synergy across different systems, departments, and regions. On the other hand, mechanism innovation has optimized operational flows and increased coordination, facilitating smoother transitions and continuations between various social security systems. For example, in the transfer and continuation of pension insurance relations and the direct settlement of trans-regional medical expenses, efficient and convenient bridging mechanisms have been established, reducing the steps and obstacles for the masses in handling their affairs. The linkage and cooperation between systems such as social assistance, social welfare, and social insurance have also become closer, forming a powerful synergy for guaranteeing people’s livelihoods.
The precision of guarantee efficacy has been improved, making the foundation of people's well-being more vibrant. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's social security undertakings not only achieved "broad coverage" but also continued to exert force on "efficacy" and "precision," tangibly enhancing the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security. First, the level of guarantee benefits has continuously increased. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, "the standard for financial subsidies for resident medical insurance increased from 580 yuan to 700 yuan per person per year, and the national rural and urban minimum living security standards both increased by about 20%." Basic pensions have seen consecutive upward adjustments, with an emphasis on favoring elderly retirees and those in hard and remote areas [5] to ensure that the basic living standards of retirees keep pace with economic and social development. Second, the precision of guarantee services has been significantly enhanced. With the help of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, social security has transformed from "flood irrigation" [6] to "precision drip irrigation," continuously turning livelihood pain points into fulcrums of happiness and laying a solid foundation for the solid advancement of common prosperity. For example, the establishment and improvement of dynamic monitoring and early warning mechanisms for low-income populations have enabled early detection, early intervention, and early assistance for people facing urgent difficulties. Third, by focusing on the guarantee needs of key groups and implementing a series of preferential policies and special measures, the guarantee gap between different groups has been continuously narrowed. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China essentially completed a tiered and classified social assistance system. The scope of guarantees extended from traditional recipients of the "minimum living guarantee" [7] and persons in extreme poverty to those at the margins of the minimum living guarantee and households with difficulties due to rigid expenditures. A national dynamic monitoring and normalized assistance mechanism for people in difficulty was initially established, ensuring that those in need have a place to turn and receive timely aid.
III. Challenges Facing Livelihood Work During the 15th Five-Year Plan Period While notable achievements were made in China's livelihood work during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, many weak links remain in the field of people's livelihoods. Livelihood work during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030) will need to address complex challenges.
(1) New livelihood topics brought about by the deep transformation of the population structure. The accelerating process and deepening degree of aging pose enormous pressure on the elderly care guarantee and service systems. By the end of 2024, China's population aged 60 and above reached 310 million, accounting for 22.0% of the total population, making it the largest elderly population in the world. Estimates suggest that by 2030, the proportion of people aged 60 and above will reach approximately 25%. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the continuous increase in aging pressure will place greater strain on the balance of payments for pension insurance funds, testing the sustainability of pensions. Simultaneously, as the elderly population continues to grow, the current supply of elderly care services—in terms of total volume, structure, and quality—is already struggling to fully satisfy multi-level and diversified demands for elderly care. Furthermore, as the number of "empty-nest" [8] and solitary elderly increases, how to meet their needs for spiritual culture, social participation, and digital inclusion has also become a new livelihood topic.
The trend of "fewer children" [9] has not yet been reversed, and the fertility support policy system urgently needs refinement. The low birth rate has become a major risk affecting the long-term balanced development of China's population. It not only impacts the future labor supply but also has profound effects on the allocation of educational resources and consumption structures. Although the state has issued a series of measures to encourage childbirth, the effects take time to manifest and are also constrained by multiple factors such as economic burden, infant and toddler care, and women's career development. How to effectively reduce the burden of childbirth, child-rearing, and education for families to increase the birth rate is a difficult problem that urgently needs solving.
(2) Livelihood shortcomings derived from unbalanced and inadequate development. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, unbalanced and inadequate development will continue to manifest as multi-dimensional shortcomings in the livelihood sector. The gaps in public services under unbalanced regional development, the divide in quality of life under the urban-rural dual structure, and the inequality of opportunity and guarantee among social groups have all become major constraints on meeting the people's needs for a better life. They also constitute the primary challenges on the path toward common prosperity.
Unbalanced and inadequate development is reflected in the massive gap in public services between regions. The eastern coastal areas, leveraging their first-mover advantage, lead significantly in infrastructure, educational resources, and medical standards. In contrast, the central and western regions, as well as "old, ethnic, frontier, and poor" [10] areas, face dilemmas regarding insufficient public service supply. High-quality educational and medical resources are highly concentrated in developed areas and large cities. Children in many underdeveloped areas find it difficult to enjoy high-quality education, and grassroots populations still face the problem of "difficulty and high cost of medical treatment." This uneven distribution of livelihood resources brought about by regional spatial distribution can easily lead to the solidification of intergenerational poverty, becoming a barrier to social mobility and ultimately harming social fairness, justice, and long-term development.
Unbalanced and inadequate development is also reflected in the divide in quality of life between urban and rural areas. Despite the rapid progress of "new-type urbanization" [11], the long-standing urban-rural dual structure has not been fundamentally eliminated. Urban residents generally enjoy high-quality education, medical, and cultural resources, while a large portion of rural areas still face the plight of weak teaching staff in schools, rudimentary medical facilities, and a lack of cultural venues. This gap in the "soft environment" directly constrains the developmental potential and quality of life for rural residents. In terms of infrastructure and living environments, significant differences also exist between urban and rural areas. Cities possess integrated transportation networks, stable water and electricity supplies, and efficient waste disposal systems. In comparison, parts of the rural areas still have shortcomings in road transportation, drinking water safety, sewage treatment, and network coverage; the human settlement environment urgently needs improvement.
Unbalanced and inadequate development is further reflected in the inequality of opportunity and guarantee among social groups. Although the social security system has achieved broad coverage, the difference in treatment among different groups is distinct. There are significant gaps between urban and rural residents in medical insurance reimbursement ratios and pension standards. Hundreds of millions of the "migrating agricultural population" [12] have not yet been fully integrated as urban citizens (cizitenized); they still face many explicit and implicit barriers to enjoying equal public services—such as education, housing, and social security—as the registered (hukou) population in the places to which they have moved. This inequality not only affects individual quality of life but is more likely to solidify class differences, hinder social mobility, and restrict the release of overall social vitality.
(3) The dual effects brought about by the technological revolution and industrial transformation. A new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, represented by the digital economy and artificial intelligence, is developing deeply. While creating new development opportunities, it also brings uncertainty to livelihood work. Among these, the "double-edged sword" effect on employment warrants particular attention.
On the one hand, the vigorous development of new technologies such as digital technology and AI has injected new vitality into the labor market and opened up vast space for growth. The rise of the digital economy has created a large number of unprecedented job opportunities; for example, e-commerce platforms have birthed live-streaming salespersons and e-commerce operation specialists. The big data industry has created new positions such as data analysts and algorithm engineers. These new occupations are not only numerous but also tend to have higher knowledge and technical content.
On the other hand, the replacement effect of new technologies on employment has extended from manual labor to mental labor, forming a dual replacement pressure. Research shows that every 1% increase in the penetration of industrial robots will lead to a 0.18% reduction in a company's demand for labor. It can be foreseen that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, low-skill positions will further decrease, while the technical thresholds for new positions in emerging industries will be higher, and their number will be far lower than the number of workers needing to transfer jobs. This structural unemployment pressure triggered by technological progress will increase further. How to proactively conduct vocational skills training, refine the lifelong vocational skills training system, help workers adapt to technological changes, and simultaneously regulate the protection of labor rights in new forms of employment is a major question that needs answering during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
IV. Reflections on the Path to Guarantee and Improve Livelihoods During the 15th Five-Year Plan Period Facing new situations and new challenges, the promotion of livelihood guarantee and improvement during the 15th Five-Year Plan period must be guided by the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [13]. We must adhere to the people-centered development philosophy, persist in "acting within our means and doing our best," strengthen the construction of inclusive, basic, and "bottom-line" [14] livelihoods, explore new paths for more sustainable and higher-quality livelihood development, and tangibly improve the quality of the people's lives.
(1) Adhering to the methodology of "acting within our means and doing our best." Persisting in doing our best while acting within our means is an important method for guaranteeing and improving livelihoods.
"Doing our best" (尽力而为) reflects a sense of purpose focused on wholehearted service and a spirit of proactive responsibility. It requires us to place livelihood work in a priority position, with a sense of urgency that "we cannot afford to wait," a sense of crisis that "we cannot afford to be slow," and a sense of responsibility that "we cannot sit still." We must proactively discover the pain points and bottlenecks in livelihoods, use limited resources where they are most needed, and concentrate efforts on building inclusive, basic, and "bottom-line" livelihoods.
"Acting within our means" (量力而行) emphasizes respecting objective laws and reflects a pragmatic and down-to-earth work attitude. Livelihood guarantee and improvement are, in essence, a form of fiscal expenditure; the economic affordability and fiscal sustainability must be considered. This requires us to proceed from the current stage of social development, fully consider realistic possibilities and the capacity to bear costs, avoid making excessively high promises that deviate from reality, and refrain from "eating next year's food today" styled excessive welfare. Otherwise, it may trigger fiscal risks due to a break in the capital chain, which would in turn erode the foundation of livelihood guarantees.
"Doing our best" and "acting within our means" are not opposed to each other but are a dialectical and unified organic whole. The former determines the "attitude" and "upper limit" of livelihood work, while the latter defines the "boundaries" and "bottom line." In practice, one must be skilled at grasping the scale of "acting within means" while "doing one's best," and pursuing the height of "doing one's best" on the basis of "acting within means." This requires us both to fully exert subjective initiative—optimizing resource allocation, improving the efficiency of fund usage, and innovating service supply models under current financial and material conditions to maximize livelihood benefits—and also to continuously make the "cake" bigger by promoting high-quality economic development, thereby providing a more substantial material basis for "doing our best" and achieving a dynamic balance between the two at a higher level.
(2) Constructing a population service system adapted to the population structure. Changes in the population structure are the fundamental variable affecting livelihood guarantee. Building a population service system adapted to the population structure is an important focal point for guaranteeing and improving livelihoods. In response to the deep-seated changes in China's population structure during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee proposed "improving the population service system that covers the entire population and the whole life cycle."
"Covering the entire population" emphasizes the inclusiveness and fairness of public services. This requires breaking down barriers such as urban-rural divides, regional differences, household registration (hukou), social status, and income. It involves expanding the coverage of the population service system and enhancing its inclusiveness to ensure that different regions, ethnic groups, and occupational groups can equally and inclusively access relevant services, ensuring that the results of reform and development benefit all people more extensively and fairly.
"Covering the entire life cycle" emphasizes the continuity and systematic nature of service provision. This requires taking the human life cycle as the main thread to provide uninterrupted and continuous population services from infancy to old age. On the "youngest" [15] end, this involves, on one hand, increasing fiscal investment to "optimize fertility support policies and incentive measures, leverage the role of childcare subsidies and personal income tax deductions, and effectively reduce the costs of childbearing, parenting, and education for families." On the other hand, it involves developing inclusive childcare and integrated childcare services, incorporating childcare services into the scope of basic public services, encouraging social forces to participate, and vigorously developing infant and toddler care institutions that are affordable and of guaranteed quality. On the "oldest" [15] end, this involves, on one hand, optimizing the supply of basic elderly care services and accelerating the improvement of a multi-tiered elderly care service system—based on the home, supported by the community, supplemented by institutions, and combining medical care with education and elderly care [16]—to achieve full-process services ranging from health management to disability care. On the other hand, it involves promoting "active aging," which means "prudently implementing the gradual raising of the statutory retirement age, optimizing age-limit policies in employment and social security, actively developing elderly human resources, and developing the silver economy."
(3) narrowing gaps in people's well-being through equalization measures
In response to the shortcomings in people's livelihoods brought about by unbalanced and inadequate development, Xi Jinping required the "deployment of a batch of policy measures with strong equalization and accessibility" in his Explanatory Note on the Proposal of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period [17], we must work toward the implementation of equalization measures to strive for the reduction of gaps in people's well-being between urban and rural areas and across different regions.
Promote integrated urban-rural development and narrow the urban-rural livelihood gap. On one hand, we must promote the equal exchange and two-way flow of urban and rural factors [18], guiding more capital, technology, and talent toward the countryside. We must promote the cross-sector allocation of agricultural and modern industrial factors, broaden channels for increasing farmers' income, narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents, and stimulate the endogenous drive of rural areas. Secondly, we must promote the equalization of urban and rural public services, "promoting the downward extension of more public services to the grassroots, their coverage of the countryside, and their inclination toward remote areas and groups with living difficulties," so that rural residents can enjoy a quality of life similar to that of urban dwellers.
Promote coordinated regional development and mend shortcomings in livelihoods. On one hand, centering on major national regional strategies—such as the Large-scale Development of the Western Region, the Revitalization of Northeast China, and the Rise of Central China—we should increase the intensity of central fiscal transfer payments. We should guide high-quality education and medical resources to flow toward underdeveloped areas, increase support for these regions, and promote the equalized development of basic public services at the regional level. On the other hand, in response to the challenges faced by the mechanism for allocating public resources linked to "people, land, and money" [19], we must "improve the public resource allocation mechanism that matches the permanent resident population." We should establish a scientific prediction system for population migration trends and strengthen the coordinated linkage between resources—such as fiscal transfer payments and indicators for land used for construction—and population absorption capacity. We should dynamically adjust and optimize the supply of basic public services based on the actual size of the population served and managed.
(4) Strengthening the institutional support for guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods
Institutions are fundamental, overall, stable, and long-term issues concerning the development of the Party and the state's cause. Both the 20th CPC National Congress and the Third Plenary Session of its 20th Central Committee emphasized the importance of institutional building. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee [20], which is in the same vein as its predecessors, also continues the major principle of "adhering to institutional building as the main thread," insisting on the use of institutional forms to advance the guarantee and improvement of people's livelihoods.
Ensure the predictability of livelihood guarantees and improvements through the stability of institutional protection. If the guarantee and improvement of livelihoods lack a stable institutional framework and rely only on temporary policies or "campaign-style" [21] advancement, they are highly susceptible to fluctuations due to changes in leadership, shifts in attention, or ups and downs in fiscal status. By transforming mature livelihood policies and successful livelihood practices into institutions with universal binding force and long-term effectiveness—through legislation and the formulation of administrative and local regulations—we can effectively avoid the volatility of livelihood policies that varies by person or circumstance, providing the masses with stable and predictable livelihood guarantees.
Achieve fairness and efficiency in the distribution of livelihood resources through the systematic nature of institutional design. Livelihood construction covers multiple fields such as education, employment, income distribution, and social security. These fields are interrelated and mutually influential, requiring unified planning and coordinated advancement. A fragmented governance model—characterized by piecemeal approaches or "treating the head when the head aches" [22]—leads to policy conflicts, waste of resources, and poor results. Through top-level design and systematic integration in institutional forms, we can break down departmental barriers, straighten out power and responsibility relationships, and construct a multi-tiered livelihood guarantee system that covers the entire population, integrates urban and rural areas, clarifies powers and responsibilities, provides moderate protection, and is sustainable. This helps ensure fairness and efficiency in the distribution of livelihood resources.
About the Author: Zhao Jiping, Professor at the School of Marxism, CPC Shandong Provincial Committee Party School (Shandong Academy of Governance). Source: Theoretical Horizon (理论视野), Issue 11, 2025. Editor: Hui Hui