China to create more jobs for people in cities

December 18th, 2011 - 2:08 pm ICT by IANS  

Beijing, Dec 18 (IANS) The Chinese government now seems to be focussing on employment opportunities in urban areas, as it has decided to keep its unemployment rate among registered city dwellers under five percent between 2011 and 2015.

The government aims to create jobs for 45 million people in cities and 40 million unemployed labourers in the countryside during these years, the China Daily reported.

An official statement issued after an executive meeting of the State Council held this past week revealed.

“Employment pressures will continue to increase in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period,” said the statement, citing decisions made at the meeting, which was presided over by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

As per the statement, to meet the government’s goal for unemployment rate among registered city dwellers, about 10 million jobs will have to be created each year for such people. That is about a million more a year than was created annually from 2006 to 2010.

At the end of the third quarter of this year, Chinese cities had a registered unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, which was unchanged from the previous quarter.

The government has decided to make it a priority to employ college graduates and unemployed labourers in the countryside, as such a step is hoped to improve the system being used to provide occupational training.

The policies have told both labourers and enterprises that the central government is placing a priority on job maintenance and creation, said Zhang Yi, an expert with Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ institute of population and labour economics.

Around seven million Chinese students graduate from colleges anually and the countryside is home to about 100 million labourers without jobs.

China is home to about 250 million migrant workers.

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