Beijing to Curb Influx of Labor

Having managed to get over 90 per cent of the employees with local non-State enterprises sign employment contracts with their employers, You Lantian vows to continue with the Beijing municipal government's effort to better govern the city's labourer market.

"We will strengthen our management of the labourers from outside Beijing, keeping the total amount of them no more than 950,000, while managing 50,000 more posts for the local jobless and laid-offs this year," said the director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social Security in a report to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress (BMPC), released on April 27.

She made the promise after numerous appeals from BMPC members, saying the total amount of the city's laborers from other Chinese regions should be controlled, and Beijing natives should have more job opportunities.

You also promised in the report that the total amount the bureau will define in the future should be based on scientific research and opinions solicited from all sides, including BMPC members.

And not everyone will be able to come to the Chinese capital to look for a job.

Instead, You said, the migrant workers must at least have graduated from junior middle school. "And over 60 per cent of them should come from the areas whose local authorities have signed laborer-provision contracts with us, and have been trained on related laws and regulations in their hometowns," she said.

To fulfill the goals, You said the bureau is preparing a city-wide special examination. But she didn't reveal what will become of those found unqualified.

With an expectation of providing 10,000 job opportunities this year, community services remain what You mainly depends on for relieving the city's unemployment problem.

"Over 60 per cent of local subdistricts are expected to have their own community service networks by the end of this year," You said.

In the past three months, 16.3 per cent of Beijing's laid-off workers found new jobs, which was two percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

While the 16.3 per cent is far less than this year's target of 60 per cent, she is still pushing forward with efforts her community-service networks project.

Also according to the director, Beijing has completed its transition from the old lifelong employment system to the system of contracted labor.



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