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)