China will train eight million rural laborers this year to make them more employable, according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

The move is part of the ministry's plan to provide job training opportunities to a total of 40 million rural laborers over the 11th Five-Year plan period (2006-2010).

The ministry urged local governments to provide training subsidies to the eight million laborers, half of whom will be migrant workers already in cities and the other half rural people intending to move to urban areas to work.

The ministry also required labor departments at all levels to establish a long-term training mechanism for rural laborers to maintain employment levels.

China is under great employment pressure as laid-off workers of state-owned firms, an increasing number of college students, and surplus rural laborers farmers are all looking for jobs, according to the ministry.

The government had spent 2.14 billion yuan (US$278 million) on job training for 8.6 million rural laborers from 2006 to March 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2007)