China plan to boost jobs and salaries
Source: Xinhua/Shanghai Daily |
February 9, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
China's State Council yesterday issued a plan to boost employment during the current five-year plan, with the aim of creating 45 million jobs and keeping registered urban unemployment under 5 percent.
The government also pledged to maintain an average 13 percent growth annually in the nation's minimum wage during the five-year period.
The government wants minimum wages to be 40 percent of average local salaries by 2015.
During the 2006-10 period, China raised minimum wages by a yearly average of 12.5 percent.
Currently, minimum wages in China range from 870 yuan (US$138) in Chongqing to 1,500 yuan per month in Shenzhen.
Last month, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said the city's minimum wage, currently 1,280 yuan, would be raised from April 1.
Government authorities will also work to spur employment while improving the employment structure and regulations that protect workers' rights and benefits, according to the plan.
A total of 57.71 million new jobs were created in urban areas during the 2006-10 period, official data shows.
By the end of 2011, China's urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent, the same as in 2010.
China's job market conditions will be "complicated," the plan says, with the country facing increasing pressure in creating more job opportunities.
That complication is likely to increase if economic growth continues to decelerate, it says.
China's economy expanded 9.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, down from 10.3 percent in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the fourth quarter last year, economic growth slowed to a 10-quarter low of 8.9 percent year-on-year.
Structural problems, such as employees' skills not matching labor demand, are likely to worsen in the coming years, according to the plan. Employers have been suffering from a lack of experienced workers, especially those with skills in the manufacturing and service sectors.
At the same time, many college graduates were having problems finding satisfactory jobs. Official estimates put the number of college graduates in 2012 at 6.8 million, more than six times that in the early 2000s.
"Every year there are 25 million urban residents needing jobs and there is still a significant number of excess rural workers needing to find jobs," the plan says. "All levels of governments making fiscal, financial and industrial policies must consider the impact on employment and pay close attention to unemployment risks."
The government is to implement a more proactive employment policy by providing more fiscal, taxation and financial support.
Local authorities should give priorities to the development of industries that provide more job opportunities, with more funding flowing to the service sector and labor-intensive industries, as well as small and micro-enterprises, the plan says.
The government also pledged to maintain an average 13 percent growth annually in the nation's minimum wage during the five-year period.
The government wants minimum wages to be 40 percent of average local salaries by 2015.
During the 2006-10 period, China raised minimum wages by a yearly average of 12.5 percent.
Currently, minimum wages in China range from 870 yuan (US$138) in Chongqing to 1,500 yuan per month in Shenzhen.
Last month, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said the city's minimum wage, currently 1,280 yuan, would be raised from April 1.
Government authorities will also work to spur employment while improving the employment structure and regulations that protect workers' rights and benefits, according to the plan.
A total of 57.71 million new jobs were created in urban areas during the 2006-10 period, official data shows.
By the end of 2011, China's urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent, the same as in 2010.
China's job market conditions will be "complicated," the plan says, with the country facing increasing pressure in creating more job opportunities.
That complication is likely to increase if economic growth continues to decelerate, it says.
China's economy expanded 9.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, down from 10.3 percent in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the fourth quarter last year, economic growth slowed to a 10-quarter low of 8.9 percent year-on-year.
Structural problems, such as employees' skills not matching labor demand, are likely to worsen in the coming years, according to the plan. Employers have been suffering from a lack of experienced workers, especially those with skills in the manufacturing and service sectors.
At the same time, many college graduates were having problems finding satisfactory jobs. Official estimates put the number of college graduates in 2012 at 6.8 million, more than six times that in the early 2000s.
"Every year there are 25 million urban residents needing jobs and there is still a significant number of excess rural workers needing to find jobs," the plan says. "All levels of governments making fiscal, financial and industrial policies must consider the impact on employment and pay close attention to unemployment risks."
The government is to implement a more proactive employment policy by providing more fiscal, taxation and financial support.
Local authorities should give priorities to the development of industries that provide more job opportunities, with more funding flowing to the service sector and labor-intensive industries, as well as small and micro-enterprises, the plan says.
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