China will launch a graduate trainee program for one million unemployed college graduates in three years, according to a circular issued by the general office of the State Council on Sunday.

The program did not suggest a fixed length or pay scale of the training, but the circular demanded local governments and organizations which provided training to offer basic living subsidies to the trainees.

The government would build training bases for the program with responsible employers, and employers are encouraged to recruit graduate trainees, said the circular.

Besides the trainee program, the government would also enhance technical training for graduates from vocational schools with a "double certificates" program.

According to the program, schools would help the students get vocational qualification certificates when they leave school, in addition to their graduate certificates.

China had about 1.5 million unemployed college graduates by the end of 2008, registering an unemployment rate of 12 percent, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in the Blue Book of China's Economy (2009) last December.

(China Daily February 16, 2009)