As of Sept. 1, all employers in China must contribute to benefits for their employees, to support their pensions, medical care, maternity leave and more.

That should come as good news to many ordinary Chinese, given how threadbare China’s social safety net has been. But rather than celebrating, many in China have reacted with worry and frustration.

Small business owners have said that their labor costs will skyrocket. Workers have speculated that their bosses will lay them off or lower their salaries. Economists have warned that the policy could push more people into the gig economy, possibly lowering the formal employment rate and stripping workers of protections.

“If they force us to pay, we’ll have to close up shop and go home,” said Yan Xuejiao, whose family runs a rice noodle shop in Beijing.

“Especially the way business is going this year, ask around — which business owner is able?” she continued, gesturing at the empty restaurants, hers included, on the downtown street. “We’re all about to give up our leases and quit.”

That the requirement has been met with such anxiety shows the challenges the Chinese government faces in bolstering its weak social safety net. On the one hand, experts agree that China urgently needs to replenish its state pension fund, which experts have said may run out by 2035, and to ease the costs of housing, education and health care. That would help Chinese families feel less pressure to save for a rainy day and spend more, a key goal for the government in boosting a slowing economy.