Local trade unions had set up 4,161 reemployment bases across the country by the end of 2003, which helped 475,000 laid-off workers to find jobs, said Zhang Junjiu, vice president of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Zhang made the remark recently at a meeting on trade unions' role in solving the unemployment problem.

By the end of 2003, regional trade unions had also provided interest-free loans of 245.59 million yuan (US$29.6 million) for 112,000 laid-off workers, 33,362 of whom successfully started their own businesses, he said.

By the end of 2003, Chinese trade unions had spent 133.12 million yuan on reemployment cause, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2004)