Not joining a company means you must arrange your own social insurance: you’ll need to enroll in pension and medical plans at your place of work, as household registration restrictions have now been lifted.

11. Not joining a company means you must arrange your own social insurance: you’ll need to enroll in pension and medical plans at your place of work, as household registration restrictions have now been lifted.

Cost: You must pay the full amount for both pension and medical insurance yourself, calculated based on the local contribution base — often over a thousand yuan per month. The contribution base is simply the benchmark figure used to determine premiums. This is the most easily overlooked recurring expense on this path, and the difficulty lies in making those payments on time every month.

In plain terms: Not being employed by a company doesn’t mean you’re exempt from social insurance; it simply means no employer covers half of the cost. Official documents require all regions to lift household registration barriers so flexible workers can enroll in insurance at their place of work, with major metropolises gradually implementing this change. So don’t mistake “freedom” for “no need to worry about social insurance.” If you fail to pay on schedule, both your pension benefits and medical reimbursement rates will be calculated according to rules for interrupted coverage.

Benefit: These provisions stem from the “Guiding Opinions on Protecting the Labor Rights and Interests of Workers in New Forms of Employment.” It states: “All regions must lift household registration restrictions so flexible workers can enroll in basic pension and medical insurance at their place of work; for exceptionally large cities where full implementation isn’t immediately feasible, local authorities should create conditions for gradual rollout. Employers must be urged to enroll workers in social insurance per the law. Workers who don’t qualify for standard employee pension or medical plans should be guided to enroll in urban/rural resident programs to ensure full coverage. For those operating independently via platforms, rights and obligations are governed by civil law.” (National policy, effective 2021)

Evidence grade: A

Sources: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China and eight other ministries (2021). Guidance on safeguarding the labor security rights and interests of workers in new employment forms (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China [2021] No. 56, Article 2, Article 8). <https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-07/23/content_5626761.htm>; General Office of State Council of China (2020). Opinions on supporting multiple channels for flexible employment (Guobanfa [2020] No. 27). <https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-07/31/content_5531613.htm>

Notes: The wording “lift restrictions” leaves room for exceptions in very large cities — it doesn’t mean household registration rules are completely abolished nationwide. Exact implementation details depend on the specific city where you intend to enroll. The benefit is rated “high” because interrupted coverage directly impacts long-term pension and medical benefits, which far outweigh the monthly costs. Yet those costs are real too: full self-payment often exceeds a thousand yuan per month. For information on how to restore interrupted coverage and accumulate years of service, see Section 7, Article 18 (“Interrupted Social Insurance Payments”). Additionally, selling agricultural or daily goods at government-designated locations/times, or offering services that legally require no license, doesn’t necessitate a business license per State Council Document No. 27 (2020).