Li Keqiang's report on the economic situation at the 16th National Congress of ACFTU
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 12, 2013
Third, increase efforts on resolving problems closely concerning workers' vital interests during economic and social development
Everybody is concerned about workers' interests. Trade unions are the bridge and link between the Party and millions of workers. They care about workers' interests, and uphold their rights. This is natural! Promoting economic development and protecting workers' interests are not mutually exclusive but consistent with each other. We hope that the millions of workers and all the people will work hard. But, at the same time, you cannot get milk from a cow without feeding it. That does not work. At this point, I want to emphasize several things:
Firstly, we must implement a proactive employment policy. We must strive to help those workers and first time job hunters find jobs, provide them with work opportunities, and strive for high-quality jobs. Employment gives our people a livelihood. Believe me that, the government will not slacken off, and will work for this every minute. For us, the primary purpose of steady economic growth is to safeguard employment.
Secondly, we should build a social security safety net. We will promote restructuring. Within this, the major task is to let consumption play an important role. In many developed countries, consumption accounts for the largest proportion of GDP. In the first three quarters of this year in China, this proportion reached 45.9 percent. People will only spend when they have the money to do so. But why have Chinese people deposited four to five trillion yuan into their bank accounts rather than spend it? It is because they are worried about our pension system. Quite frankly, the system is not perfect. The number of urban workers currently participating in the basic old-age insurance scheme across China is more than 300 million, but 38 million of them withdraw at the end of the year. They are the workers from the medium sized, small and micro businesses with difficulties, and flexible workers who have paid contributions for 15 years and don't want to pay any more. The government should improve social security system, and trade unions should also work towards this aim. People need to have confidence in the government. During our restructuring and transformation of state-owned enterprises in old industrial bases in northeast China, we solved the problem of endowment insurance for 6 million workers. But there were still millions of people who resigned voluntarily without receiving any compensation. They had also contributed to the country, and their country will not forget them. We need to find a way. We need to build a safety net, a pension system covering all people, pension protection for all workers so that the people can work and live in comfort. That is the way to share the benefits of development with the people more thoroughly and fairly. Our medical insurance system has basically covered all cities and counties. But what I want to emphasize here is the need to build a healthcare insurance system to treat critical illnesses. Some 3 million people are still unable to afford the bill for treatment of critical illnesses, even though some of the money has already been paid by the local government. The whole society, both the government and individuals should work together. Here, I would like to thank the "Warmth Projects" initiated by trade unions for their efforts in helping older and needy workers. The government will provide both political and financial support for trade unions. Another point is safeguarding housing. According to China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), we will build 36 million affordable houses, half of which will be converting shanty towns. In these five years, we are determined to reconstruct all the shanty towns where older workers live.
We are also looking into establishing an emergency mechanism. At this stage, it is important to help the poor, as well as provide emergency relief. For decades, China achieved a lot in poverty reduction; hundreds of millions of Chinese people have shaken off poverty, no one disagrees with that. However, we have not established an emergency mechanism yet. Our society needs this as a bottom line for safety. This way, the people and workers will have the courage to find jobs and start their own businesses. When they encounter difficulties, the mechanism would help them. We need not only a basic security system, but also a bottom line, which would be the emergency mechanism. In my mind, it should incorporate the "Warmth Projects", and be built as a collaboration by the government, trade unions, charities, and all areas of society, in order to prevent the frequent occurrence of phenomena that break through the social bottom line, which would promote harmony in society.
Thirdly, we should increase incomes, economic development and productivity at the same time. It's not enough to only improve social security to solve our worries for the future, we should also increase incomes. According the 12th Five Year Plan, the workers incomes will be doubled and grow in line with GDP. Growing these areas at the same time not only refers to the economy and incomes, but also to productivity and incomes.
Of course, we are concerned most about the ordinary workers. The average minimum wage in 24 provinces and cities has increased by 18 percent this year, which has put pressure on companies and affecting the competitiveness of their exports. But we have to choose between these two difficulties, because we have to build common prosperity step by step. Another concern is farmers. I was glad to hear that 100 million farmers have joined the trade union. Migrant workers have made great contributions to cities, where they are indispensable. A city needs many types of service industry. If it only has people with scalpels but nobody serving tea, then it cannot operate. We should respect all works. There are 260 million migrant workers in China. Of course, some of them are seasonal or temporary. The government and trade unions mobilize to help migrant workers settle down in cities, not just stay temporarily, to enjoy their work instead merely providing jobs, so that migrant workers can really integrate into city or town lives and enjoy their rights.
At this point I want to emphasize that Party committees and governments in various levels must pay great attention to the functions of trade unions, especially those that care for and aid model workers, supporting and assisting trade unions so they can do a good job. A country should have positive energy, and model workers should be the examples. They are the masters of various trades and workers in their trades should follow them. We should also improve the government-trade union joint meeting mechanism. Since we have such mechanisms, we should implement them. Through the joint meetings, we can listen to the wishes of ordinary workers. We should promote democratic management in companies and fully exploit the role of workers' congresses.
Fourthly, we should strengthen training for workers. People once said that China has a demographic dividend. In fact, our talent dividend should not be overlooked. In order to upgrade the Chinese economy, we should transform the demographic dividend into talent dividend. We have already made achievements in this area. Of all our urban employees, skilled workers account for 36 percent, and highly skilled workers account for 25 percent of the skilled ones. Although the proportion is not low, it is still far behind developed countries. The government is currently funding training for 10 million workers every year. It's not a small figure, but it is not enough considering the hundreds of millions of workers in China. We should be willing and brave enough to spend money on worker training and improve preferential policies in this area, to really change our demographic dividend into a talent dividend. We need to support trade unions in providing training, so that the majority of employees can become skilled and then become intermediate or high-level professionals. This way, we inspire everybody's enthusiasm and imagination. We must reach our goal.
We should also give our full attention to work safety. Safe production concerns people's lives, so we should be vigilant at all times. The Party and state have paid great attentions to this and achieved a lot in improving work safety. But there are still many issues. Relying on the self-discipline of companies is not enough. The government must enhance supervision and control, and in the meantime, the public and trade unions should also play supervisory roles in this issue.
Comrades, let us unite even more closely around the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary. Let's hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and be guided by Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents, and the Scientific Outlook on Development. May the workers of the country unite to build a moderately prosperous society, and work for the Chinese dream of rejuvenating the Chinese nation! Finally, I wish the 16th National Congress of the All China Federation of Trade Unions complete success!
Thank you.
This report was translated by Wu Jin, Chen Boyuan, Li Jingrong, Liu Qiang, Zhang Lulu, Lin Liyao and Li Shen and edited by Chris Parker.
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