State Council issues plan to promote employment

2017-02-06
english.gov.cn

The State Council on Feb 6 released the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) on employment, an overarching guideline to promote employment and entrepreneurship in China in the next five years.

According to the plan, more than 50 million jobs will be created by 2020, with reasonable rises in wages and urban registered unemployment rate below 5 percent.

Meanwhile, efforts are urged to improve the entrepreneurial environment and human resource structure. Educated and skilled workers should account for a large share of the total work force.

The plan calls for a balanced growth of new and traditional sectors to drive employment, and policies should be in place to guide labor-intensive industries to move to central, western, and northeastern regions.

More efforts should be made to promote high-end equipment, new materials, electronic vehicles, and other new industries and business patterns, to expand job creation.

At the same time, preferential policies should be offered to enterprises and industries that absorb a large amount of labor.

According to the plan, the nation will step up development of modern agriculture, forestry, and production to create more jobs for farmers. “Internet Plus agriculture” and other new industries in rural areas should be also encouraged.

The plan calls for efforts to develop labor-intensive industries in resource-exhausted cities, and more support policies for regions struggling in declining industries, to stabilize and increase employment.

Meanwhile, administration streamlining should be continued to optimize entrepreneurial environment, and inspire more people to start businesses, an important approach to creating jobs.

Policies should be in place to encourage scientific, education, and cultural experts to take the lead in entrepreneurship, and create favorable conditions for overseas high-end talent to work and start businesses in China.

Services to support entrepreneurship should be strengthened, with more incubation hubs and entrepreneurial parks being built, to ensure more startups could survive and succeed in the market.

The plan also calls for more active policies to ensure employment of university graduates, migrant workers, as well as poverty-stricken families and disabled people.