Flexible Job System Essential to Promote Re-employment

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 27, 2002

Flexible Job System Essential to Promote Re-employment

Flexible employment will be a key approach in solving the re-employment issue, and its growth should be carefully cultivated, said an article in People's Daily.

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Flexible employment will be a key approach in solving the re-employment issue, and its growth should be carefully cultivated, said an article in People's Daily.

Flexible employment refers to jobs that are distinct from traditional stable employment based on industrialization and modern corporate system in terms of working time arrangements, remuneration, insurance, social benefits and working conditions.

Flexible jobs fall under three categories

First - jobs created in small companies, or home-based business establishments, and temporary jobs offered by large and medium- sized enterprises.

But the working contract for these temporary, seasonal or paid-by-hour labour is different from formally recruited staff.

Second - flexible jobs fashioned by the development of new technologies and emerging industries. These include part-timers, long-distance workers, and direct marketing and insurance agents, which are very popular in developed countries.

Third - mainly self-employed, such as home-based lawyers, freelancers, street peddlers and those who do some odd jobs.

At present, fostering the generation of these flexible jobs has had profound positive impacts on the current labour market, the article said.

With the adjustment of industrial structure, the demand for low-skilled labourers has sharply declined, and the demand for professionals in high-tech and knowledge-intensive sectors has soared considerably.

At the same time, legions of low-skilled and elderly workers discharged from traditional manufacturing sectors find it difficult to land jobs in new and high-tech sectors.

Such a dire situation poses a great challenge to further industrial restructuring and economic growth.

Under these circumstances, flexible employment - with relatively low-level entrance-requirements - will serve as a new channel to get urban laid-off workers re-employed, the article said.

It is estimated that more than 70 per cent of those laid-off already engage in flexible employment.

Such employment also plays a large role in transferring rural surplus labour and increasing farmers' incomes.

And there are bright growth prospects of flexible employment in China.

One example is, in developed countries, the community-based service sector contributes about 20-30 per cent to the total number of jobs created but in China the figure is just 3.9 per cent.

Several impediments for the promotion of flexible employment

Some unfavourable factors may frustrate the attempts to initiate small-scaled companies and household-based small businesses.

With the absence of a credit and guarantee system tailored for smaller businesses, people find it difficult to start up their own business.

Besides, there are no tax breaks or exemptions, and the cost involved in opening and managing such businesses is quite high alongside complicated application and approval procedures.

Another problem is the current social security system cannot meet the demands of those flexible employment relationships.

Many types of social security are designed on the basis of regular employment. Most people engaged in flexible employment are not covered by the social security system.

Such a situation will prevent laid-off workers from ending labour contracts with former employers and entering non-traditional job positions for fear of loss of social security insurance.

Moreover, some stipulations enshrined in present labour legislation are no longer commensurate with such a new dynamic in the labour market.

Companies who want to sign contracts with temporary staff in specific economic circumstances may find it difficult to conform with rules on working-time arrangements of the 40-hour per week and the set minimum wage standard, which is only available on monthly payments.

To remove these impediments and encourage the creation of flexible job opportunities, the first step is to fully recognize the role of flexible employment in the current job markets, the article said.

When the economy is under market transition and regular positions provided by formal organizations are insufficient, the promotion of flexible employment will be an indispensable approach to providing lifelines to tens of millions of people.

The government should set policies tailored to different forms of flexible employment, the article said.

To provide incentives for the self-employed, the focus should be on establishing and implementing policies to encourage and support entrepreneurial efforts.

For staff hired by large and medium-sized companies for temporary workloads, protecting the staff's legal rights is important.

For those who work for small companies, it is urgent to adjust and improve current labour legislation and establish appropriate laws that will strike a balance between ensuring both the companies' growth and workers' legal rights and interests.

Favourable policies should be extended to urban laid-off workers. Giving them portable social security packages will be a great boost to their quest for flexible jobs.

To release the job-creating potentials of the community-based service sector, it is necessary to set up a community employment service mechanism, including a grass-root job service network based on neighbourhood committees.

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