Constructing Occupation-Specific Life Tables for China

China is one of the most rapidly ageing countries in the world. Life expectancy in China has been continuously increasing over the past half-century. This leads to substantial financial burdens for the Chinese social security system. Therefore, the Chinese government is encouraging the development of private health insurance and annuity markets. In this project, we compute the most up-to-date occupational life tables for male and female urban employees in China based on administrative data from the Beijing Public Pension System for the period 2005-2009. Occupations considered in our study include private-sector high-skilled professionals, low-skilled workers, service sector workers, and government or state-owned enterprise employees. Our research will provide a more detailed and complete picture of how longevity and health have improved in China. The decomposed life tables by occupation will inform the design of pension and healthcare policies as well as the development of the Enterprise Annuity industry and long-term care insurance market in China.