The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has pledged to provide
more convenient services to unemployed people so they can receive
training or unemployment payments without the hassle.
In
urban areas, the ministry aims to use information technology to
achieve progress within two or three years to build an employment
service network at the community level, said Zhang Xiaojian,
vice-minister of Labor and Social Security during an exclusive
interview.
Zhang said the ministry also plans to streamline administrative
procedures relating to unemployment insurance payouts and
registering procedures for the unemployed.
Zhang expressed serious concern about employment in the world's
most populous country.
He
said China has a huge workforce, with about 60 percent in rural
areas, and that the supply of labor will greatly overtake demand in
the coming several years.
Statistics from the ministry show that about 23 million laborers
will be seeking jobs in urban areas in the next three or four
years. There are only expected to be about 8 million job
opportunities available.
"Moreover, there are about 17 million surplus laborers in rural
areas and they have added difficulties to the employment problem,"
Zhang said.
But he said employment prospects in China in the long run are still
encouraging.
Demonstrating the central government's concern to attempt to solve
the problem, a national conference on the matter was held a week
ago.
The registered unemployment rate in cities and towns was 3.6
percent last year and a target has been set not to exceed 4.5
percent.
Zhang said labor and social security departments should include the
development of labor markets in the overall economic and social
development plan with an aim of expanding employment.
Zhang said the service industry will play a large role in solving
China's employment problem.
China's agricultural population is 100 times larger than that of
the United States and it has to be cut down due to China's World
Trade Organization entry, according to Hu Angang, a professor at Tsinghua
University.
He
said as employment in the agriculture and manufacturing industries
will further shrink by 10-20 percent in the next five years, the
only way to create more jobs is to rapidly develop the service
industry.
"However, monopolization in State-owned service sectors has
affected job increases," Hu said.
The long-term low contribution of the service industry to the
economy is due to obstacles in the labor market, as there are a
large number of State-owned enterprises within the sector.
According to data from 2000 about urban areas, the government owned
96.4 percent of education, culture and art, radio and film and
television operations. More than 87 percent of public health,
sporting and social welfare operations were owned by the
government.
"These sectors are managed under an almost exclusive planned
economy mode, which blocks influx of civil and foreign capital and
active job creation," Hu said.
Education, scientific research, culture and art and public health
sectors have long been supported by the government and have now
become a burden.
"If we don't break the State monopolization in these sectors and
imbue competitive mechanisms, we won't be able to better the
efficiency of public expenditure, nor can we create more jobs," Hu
said.
(China
Daily September 24, 2002)