A China employer of record employs your hire through a licensed local entity, runs payroll in yuan and carries the registrations and contributions Chinese law demands of every employer: five social insurances plus the housing fund, administered city by city. That local variation is the defining fact of Chinese employment costs; the same salary carries a different employer contribution load in Shanghai than in Guangzhou, and the registration must sit where the employee actually is. This page sets out the statutory frame from the Social Insurance Law and the contribution ranges in practice. Nothing here is legal advice; the statutes and the contract control.
The statutory frame: five insurances and hard registration deadlines
The Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China establishes five mandatory schemes: basic old-age pension, basic medical insurance, work injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance. The law splits funding by scheme: employers and employees both contribute to pension, medical and unemployment insurance at state-set rates, while work injury insurance and maternity insurance are funded by the employer alone, with no employee contribution. The law also sets hard administrative deadlines: an employer must register with the social insurance agency within 30 days of establishment and must register each employee within 30 days of hiring them. An EOR's core product in China is carrying those registrations and remittances correctly in the employee's actual city.
What the contributions cost in practice
National-level guidance puts employer pension contributions at 16% of wages with employees at 8%, medical insurance at roughly 5-10% employer and 2% employee, unemployment insurance at 0.5% from each side, work injury insurance at 0.2% to 1.9% depending on industry risk, and maternity insurance at 0.5% to 1%, employer-only. On top sits the housing provident fund, with both employer and employee contributing between 5% and 12% of wages depending on location. Stacked together, published city examples put total employer contributions at roughly 33.7-35.5% of wages in Shanghai, 34.5-37.2% in Beijing and 26.9-28.3% in Guangzhou, before the contribution base caps each city sets are applied. A China quote that presents one national percentage is an estimate, not a price.
Why the city decides the numbers
Contribution rates, wage base floors and ceilings are set locally within the national framework, and the caps are material: published base ceilings in the tens of thousands of yuan per month mean high salaries stop accruing contributions beyond the cap, so the effective employer rate falls as pay rises. The employee's registration city also determines which agency collects, what the housing fund percentage is, and how benefits pay out. For a remote hire, the provider must register where the employee works, not where the provider's office is; an EOR that runs every employee through one convenient city is creating exposure for the buyer's hire, not removing it. Ask which city the registrations will sit in and at what base.
What to check in a China EOR provider
Confirm the provider employs through its own licensed Chinese entity rather than an undisclosed subcontractor, and ask for a full-cost illustration for the actual city and salary: gross wage, each insurance line at the local rate, the housing fund percentage assumed, and the base caps applied. Ask how the written employment contract is handled, since Chinese law expects a written contract promptly after hiring and penalises its absence, and how probation, notice and severance will be run at exit, because statutory severance accrues with service. Finally, check data and payment mechanics: payroll is paid in yuan through local banking, and the conversion rate and margin applied to your foreign-currency invoice are part of the true cost.
Questions people ask about china employer of record
What are the five social insurances in China?
Basic old-age pension, basic medical, work injury, unemployment and maternity insurance, established by the Social Insurance Law. Work injury and maternity are funded by the employer alone; pension, medical and unemployment are funded by both employer and employee.
What do employer contributions cost in China?
It depends on the city. Published examples put the total employer load at roughly 33.7-35.5% of wages in Shanghai, 34.5-37.2% in Beijing and 26.9-28.3% in Guangzhou, including the housing fund, with local base caps limiting the charge on higher salaries.
What is the housing provident fund?
A mandatory savings scheme alongside the five insurances, with employer and employee each contributing between 5% and 12% of wages depending on location. It is part of the statutory cost stack, not an optional benefit.
How fast must an employer register a new hire?
The Social Insurance Law requires employers to register each employee with the social insurance agency within 30 days of hiring, and employers themselves must register within 30 days of establishment.