China issues 24-point guideline on employment-first strategy

China will implement an employment-first strategy, strengthen employment-first policies, address structural contradictions, deepen institutional reforms, and guard against the risk of large-scale unemployment to promote an effective improvement in employment quality and reasonable growth in quantity, according to a guideline released on Wednesday.

The guideline, released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, marks another major step to ensure stable, high-quality employment, and contains comprehensive measures to tackle challenges in the current job market due to new technologies and industrial upgrades, among other factors, experts said.

"Employment is the most basic livelihood, and is related to the vital interests of the people, to the sound development of the economy and society, and to the long-term stability of the country," reads the guideline.

The guideline has seven aspects, including promoting coordination between economic and social development and employment, tackling structural contradictions, improving the support system for key groups, and improving the employment assistance system for people in need.

In total, the guideline includes 24 points on specific measures. Specifically, the guideline calls for making high-quality and sufficient employment a priority goal of economic and social development and incorporating employment into national economic and social development plans.

Fiscal, taxation, financial, social security, and other policies will be deployed to guide various types of entities to expand employment.

While China has been implementing an employment-first strategy, the guideline from the highest level offers a clear road map for the implementation of such a critical strategy directly related to people's livelihoods, experts said.

Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that the measures are very targeted and conducive to addressing challenges in employment, including unbalanced supply and demand caused by new emerging technologies and industrial upgrades.

Ultimately, "this is conducive to promoting high-quality employment, safeguarding livelihoods, and promoting economic development," said Wang.

To address structural contradictions, China will make various efforts to improve the match between education supply and talent demand. Efforts will be made to improve work in education, training, and employment, in line with the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, according to the guidelines.