China says it has lifted pensions for the country's enterprise retirees for the fourth consecutive year. The new increase makes the average pension for enterprise retirees more than one thousand yuan, or some 140 US dollars.

One retired worker in Beijing says his and his wife's pension has increased by nearly 40 dollars, in 2008, a fact for which he is grateful.

Although the goods prices are rising, our country has taken this into consideration and compensated us. The country didn't neglect retired workers like us, and our living standard has even improved.

So far, China has over forty million enterprise retirees. The number is increasing with at an annual rate of 3 million people, which means China must add roughly 7 billion dollars every year to fill the gap.

Yi Zhiyuan, a senior official with China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security, says China will continue taking measures to fill the gap.

We need to take measures to meet such pressure. We will continuously expand the coverage of the social security system and raise pension fund collections. On the other hand, we will adjust the structure of our budget to increase pension fund expenses.

The ministry has also said pensions for enterprise retirees will continuously increase for the coming three years.