China is striving to safeguard the public's interest by strengthening job-related insurance efforts, Xinhua learned from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) on Wednesday.

Job-related insurance is expected to cover 128 million people by year end, with 46 million rural migrant workers among them, said Yang Zhiming, MLSS deputy chief.

As an essential part of the country's efforts to enlarge its public insurance scope, China has pledged to insure more rural migrant workers.

The country vowed to insure all rural migrant workers involved in highly-dangerous industries by the end of 2008, the fifth year China had introduced the Work-related Injury Insurance Regulation.

Rural migrant workers in coal mines and other non-coal mines, construction industries, combustible and explosive chemical plants will get insured this year.

Last year, work-related injury insurance covered 121.55 million people nationwide, including 39.66 million rural migrant workers. About 940,000 people benefited from the fund. In 2003, the figure was 300,000.

Yang added the government was going to perfect the standard of the work-related insurance system to raise public interest safeguard levels.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)