The cartoon picture shows there is still potential to improve retirement security. [Photo: baidu.com]

The latest official report on China's employee pension reserve situation has suggested there is still huge potential to improve retirement security.

The employee pension reserve refers to the benefits, cash or asset accumulated or will be accumulated by employees before retirement.

The report showed a slight decline in the pension reserve index for Chinese employees in large and medium-sized cities this year. The higher the index figure is, the better retirement security it reflects.

Zheng Bingwen with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says the situation will gradually improve as the government rolls out more supportive policies.

"The pension reserve index of Chinese employees in large and medium-sized cities reached 59.7 this year, down 0.6 from last year's figure. It reflects that our employee pension reserve is still at a low level. We believe that the index will see a huge increase at the end of next month, after the government issues favorable tax policy measures for commercial old-age insurance."

Stats in the report also show the pension reserve index of employees from state-run companies is the highest among all types of firm, at 63.8.

The report suggests that the best way to enhance Chinese employees' pension reserve levels is to develop commercial insurance and encourage employees to refine their asset structure.