Retirees at the Daimiao Community in Shandong Province approached NPC deputy Jin Lanying before she set off for Beijing early this month.

They urged Jin to increase their old-age insurance, which was adjusted by the level of the basic old-age pension in reference to the price index of living expenses for urban residents and employees' pay increases.

"In our community, an urban retired worker gets about 600 yuan a month," Jin said.

Those who used to work for township enterprises receive only 130 yuan a month, Jin, who heads the Daimiao Community office in the city of Tai'an, said.

The good news is the government aims to achieve the provincial universal level of old-age insurance nationwide within the next two years, minister of Labor and Social Security Tian Chengping said during a press conference on March 8.

The ministry is also speeding up efforts to issue measures for the trans-provincial transfer and continuation of old-age insurance while building up a comprehensive, national information system.

Basic old-age insurance for urban employees in China consists of two parts - base insurance (pay-as-you-go) and pensions from personal accounts.

The monthly pension from the personal account equals one-120th of the total accumulated sum in the personal account.

The account consists of 8 percent of an employee's wage, which is deposited monthly in the pension section, and an additional 20 percent comes from their employer.

Consequently, pensions differ from one place to another. Debts have haunted northeastern provinces with large population of laid-off workers and retirees, while more developed cities, such as Shenzhen, have surpluses in their pension reserves.