Providing jobs for the unemployed and university graduates will
be this year's top priority for authorities in Jiangsu province,
acting governor Luo Zhijun said in his report to the first session
of the 11th provincial people's congress yesterday.
Luo said the government will create more than 850,000 jobs and
re-employ 250,000 laid-off workers to ensure all urban families
have at least one person in work.
Creating jobs has been high on the government's agenda over the
past five years, he said.
According to official figures, over the past five years, the
provincial government has spent 5.16 billion yuan ($717 million) on
employment and re-employment. Some 4.9 million new jobs have been
created and 2.11 million laid-off workers have been reemployed.
But despite the government's efforts, 600,000 to 800,000 people
lose their jobs in Jiangsu every year, and some 600,000 join the
labor force, official figures show.
"This puts great pressure on the government, but we will take an
active approach and continue to carry out a positive employment
policy to improve the situation," Luo said.
As in the past, the government will provide free job training
for laid-off workers to equip them with necessary skills for new
positions, Chen Zhengning, director of the provincial labor and
social security department, said.
"We will also take advantage of the rich vocational training
resources in the province to organize skills training for high
school graduates and unskilled workers," he said.
The measures will be welcome news for Zhang Xin, a
Japanese-language major who graduated in July from the Jiangsu Food
Vocational School.
The 22-year-old has been out of work ever since.
"I have submitted job applications to dozens of companies and
have gone for a few interviews, but they all said they had nothing
for me," Zhang said.
His mother, who earns 850 yuan ($118) a month, is the family's
sole breadwinner. His 49-year-old father was made redundant when
the factory he worked for went through restructuring in 2001. He
has held a number of part-time jobs but nothing since the end of
last year.
Chen said the authorities are working hard to ease the financial
burden on families like Zhang's.
By the end of last year, 98 percent of retirees in cities and
counties were covered by the pension system and 88 percent of
people had medical insurance, according to the government's work
report.
Luo said the government will this year spend 200 million yuan
($27.8 million) on upgrading facilities at rural and community
health clinics.
(China Daily January 30, 2008)