The restructuring of China's state-owned companies leads to the first wave of lay-offs in the 1990s.Due to the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and other factors, China is expected to see a second wave of lay-offs, said Zeng Xiangquan, director of China's Employment Research Institute.

The employment index for the third quarter of 2015 registered negative 0.79 percent, a drastic decrease from the same period last year.

The index shows that China's small and medium business employment declined for the first time after the employment in the small and medium businesses had increased for the six quarters up to July, 2015. Meanwhile, hi-tech enterprises have drastically reduced employment. The hi-tech, education, media and biomedicine industries had seen increased employment from 2014 to the first half of 2015.

As China has a very complicated labor market, the registered unemployment rate released by China's national bureau of statistics cannot be regarded as an in-time reflection of the employment situation in China or considered instructive for analyzing the overall employment situation, according to Zeng Xiangquan.

Owing to restructuring of state-owned companies, the second wave of lay-offs may prove inevitable and it seems a wise choice to prepare for a second wave. Staff at state-owned companies might possibly bear the brunt of labor force reductions.