State Council rolls out measures to further promote employment

2017-01-20
english.gov.cn

Employment once again became a focus of government work as the State Council executive meeting on Jan 18 decided to carry out measures to further promote the nation’s employment.

China always pays great attention to employment. Since the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the nation has established a priority strategy to boost employment. The government is making further efforts to do so, said Zhou Tianyong, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

According to the latest State Council executive meeting, advanced manufacturing and modern logistics industries will be encouraged to create more jobs.

The service industry is also making more contributions to employment.

In 2004, China’s tertiary industry created 30.6 percent of the nation’s total employment, offering jobs to more than 220 million people. In 2014, the tertiary industry provided jobs for nearly 310 million people, accounting for 40.6 percent of total employment.

It is estimated that the ratio could jump to 50 percent by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, according to Zheng Dongliang, head of the Institute of Labor Science Studies under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The State Council executive meeting also put forward a measure to promote employment through mass entrepreneurship and innovation and new driving forces.

Entrepreneurship has a strong impact on employment, which means each startup or entrepreneurship project can create 8.44 jobs on average, Zhou said.

From online stores to pig farms and household service companies, different kinds of entrepreneurship sprang up in recent years.

According to a report by the Institute of Labor Science Studies, 44.5 percent of entrepreneurship projects are profitable, and 42.1 percent of them are in a break-even state.

The State Council executive meeting also decided to provide assistance to unemployed people.

Helping unemployed people is actually relieving families. So government should make such efforts and provide vocational training to poverty-stricken families, Zhou said.

In addition, the State Council executive meeting encouraged social sectors to help entrepreneurship and innovation and decided to build information platforms for employment support.