About 348,500 new jobs were created in Shanghai during the first six months of this year and more than 1,000 new work units were established in the city during the period.

The number of registered unemployed people in Shanghai dropped to 265,000 by the end of June, a decline of 18,000 from the same period in 2004, city officials said at an employment promotion conference yesterday afternoon.

About 1,100 bank loans worth 80 million yuan (US$9.89 million) were distributed in the first half year to help create new jobs and a total of 114,000 people received professional training during the period, they added.

Zhu Junyi, director of the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau, highlighted the progress the city government has made on providing insurance for migrant workers.

A new regulation released by the bureau on April 1 says migrant workers can enjoy a monthly medical allowance of 20 yuan if their employers buy them a comprehensive insurance package.

"So far, about 1.6 million such comprehensive insurance cards have been issued in the city," Zhu said, adding the new rule was welcomed by the migrants who say the medical allowance is a very practical benefit.

The number of migrants complaining that their employers haven't paid for comprehensive insurance for them soared 67 percent during the second quarter of this year compared with the first three months of 2005. During the first half of this year, local labor supervision departments found about 3,000 employers failed to pay insurance fees for their migrant workers.

(Shanghai Daily July 29, 2005)