About 14 million urban job seekers will be disappointed this year
because too many people are looking for too few jobs, an official
report has revealed.
About 24 million new urban job-seekers, laid-off workers from
state-owned enterprises and the registered jobless have been
swarming into job fairs, but only 10 million openings at the most
will be available by the end of this year, the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security said in the latest report.
A
ministerial official surnamed Zhang said Monday that the report,
authored by renowned experts and economists, has already been
widely issued to governments at all levels across the nation to
help them relieve the increased headache, which partly resulted
from the SARS
(severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak.
Lin Yueqin, a researcher from the Economic Research Institute
affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the
government should devise policies to cushion those industries
against the impact of SARS on employment. "The SARS outbreak will
not affect China's economic growth in the long run but its job
market will be hardest hit," said Lin.
Despite a slow recovery, the retail, catering, hotel and recreation
industries were dealt the biggest blow from SARS.
There are about 50 million people employed in these sectors. If
their total business shrank by 10 to 20 percent, 5 to 10 million
jobs would be under threat.
Tourism, real estate, construction, training and household services
have also been seriously affected. About 100 million workers are
engaged in these sectors. If these sectors earn 5 to 10 percent
less revenue, about 5 to 10 million jobs will be affected.
Lin said many enterprises will not expand their recruitment or
production this year because of the SARS outbreak, reducing the
number of new jobs available.
Echoing Lin's suggestion, Mo Rong, an expert from the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security, said the situation required emergency
measures such as providing living subsidies to unemployed workers
in SARS-hit areas, and reducing taxes on certain companies and
industries to prevent possible job cuts.
"The government should ban employers from cutting short employment
contracts without good reason and from firing staff during the SARS
crisis," said Mo.
A
group of experts recently suggested that the government should
urgently take heed of this advice in order to prevent fluctuations
of employment when crises such as SARS occur.
Mao Yushi, a renowned economist from the Beijing-based Unirule Economic
Institute, said social security measures should cover not only
urban residents, but also migrant farmers.
"Many migrants left the cities when the SARS appeared because of
fear, with no unemployment benefit or insurance," said Mao.
About 8 million farmers returned home during April and May and now
73 percent are still waiting to see if the cities are safe enough
to return and find jobs. "They are idle and their income has
greatly reduced, which has affected consumption," said Mao.
Meanwhile, taxes on affected sectors should be reduced and
government fees should be cancelled and the related governmental
departments should conduct regular check on efficiency over the
measures, which have already been deployed in certain industries in
some regions.
The experts also suggested that the government should encourage
people to open new businesses by relaxing regulations, lowering
capital requirements, simplifying registration and approval
procedures, and reducing various charges.
(China Daily June 24, 2003)