Given the huge population base of China, an average of 10 million
people annually will arrive on the employment market before 2010,
creating huge strain on a marketplace already affected by an eight
percent unemployment rate, Wang Mengkui, director of the
Development and Research Center under the State Council, said
recently.
Wang made this remark in a speech to the China Development Forum on
"Going all out to make China affluent".
He
said:"Researches find that the unemployment rate including
registered unemployment, redundancy from state owned enterprises
(SOEs) and others is around 8 to 10 percent. The government has
adopted various measures and has been making progress in boosting
employment, but according to reliable predictions, the total
working population is expected to grow by 0.6 to 0.7 percent
annually, namely 10 million laborers annually by 2010, making the
employment environment formidable."
In
an attempt to become an affluent society, China should highlight
some important issues, according to Wang. Poverty relief efforts
for those on low incomes and under-represented groups should be
enhanced to improve living standards; employment should be boosted
by various means and an income distribution policy should be
established and improved; the government should raise the ratio of
domestic consumption of GDP while leveraging the income
distribution gap; a social security network, national education
system and health care system should be built in balance with
social economic development.
China had declared its unemployment rate, as of the end of 2002, at
4 percent. The figure released by the government refers to the
registered unemployment rate in cities and towns. This doesn't
include rural labor and rural migrant workers in cities.
This index reflects the situation of the weakest groups which need
government help.
(China.org.cn by Alex Xu, April 3, 2003)