China to Raise Employment, Income: Top Planner

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 06, 2002

China to Raise Employment, Income: Top Planner

Employment and incomes will be increased this year to raise the consumption capacity of residents, Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, said here Wednesday.

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Employment and incomes will be increased this year to raise the consumption capacity of residents, Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, said here Wednesday.

Zeng made the remark in his Report on the Implementation of the 2001 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the Draft 2002 Plan for National Economic and Social Development, to the second plenary meeting of the Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC).

Solving the problem of unemployment will be moved toward the top of the agenda and a variety of measures will be adopted to ensure that about 8 million more urban residents find jobs this year compared to last year, Zeng said.

To this end, China will, first of all, expand the available employment channels, provide better market access, lower requirements for access and rely more on the role of the non- public sector and small and medium enterprises to create more jobs.

Second, China will create more job opportunities. Vigorous steps will be taken to develop labor-intensive industries with comparative advantages. Development of the tertiary industry will be accelerated and more community services will be developed in urban areas.

Third, more flexible and diverse forms of employment such as part-time, temporary and "flextime" job opportunities will be encouraged.

Fourth, China will improve employment services, promote and standardize intermediary labor organizations and the labor market, improve the employment service system, provide better vocational training and help workers become better qualified for employment or reemployment.

Restrictions on rural residents working and doing business in urban areas will be relaxed. When making job assignments, the government will give the necessary consideration to disadvantaged groups with difficulty in finding employment, the top planner said.

Diligent efforts will be made to increase the incomes of both urban and rural residents, especially those with low incomes, Zeng Peiyan said.

"We will continue to guarantee that workers laid off from state- owned enterprises receive subsistence allowances and that retirees receive their pensions on time and in full," he said.

Effective measures will be taken to ensure that all eligible poverty-stricken urban residents are covered by the system of subsistence allowances. Reform of the basic old-age insurance system, the unemployment insurance system and the basic medical insurance system for urban workers will be strongly promoted.

The income distribution system in state-owned enterprises should be optimized and trials of an annual salary system for managers of enterprises and a system of setting wages according to position will be conducted. The basic wages of employees in government departments and institutions and the pensions for their retirees will be increased as appropriate.

Consumption policies and the environment for consumption will be improved, Zeng said. A personal credit system will be set up and developed to expand the scale of consumer credit. New forms of consumption such as leasing will be tried.

"We will continue to encourage residents to spend more on housing, automobiles, telecommunications, tourism, education, cultural activities, sports and medical and health services. New areas will be fostered and developed as the focus of consumer spending," Zeng Peiyan said.

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