Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju urged here Friday local governments to offer more and better vocational skill training programs and create a more favorable environment to bring up more technicians.

The creative work of highly skilled people is indispensable in building a well-off society, he said, calling on local government officials to implement a state plan designed to train 500,000 technicians in three years to build up a team of people with advanced, intermediate and primary vocational skills.

Local governments should invest more in such training programs, reform the structure, relevant policies and concepts in cultivating qualified personnel and create a good social atmosphere of encouraging learning and acquiring techniques on the job, he said at a China vocational skill award ceremony.

Local officials should continue to implement an active employment policy, strengthen employment guidance and vocational skill training so as to reduce unemployment rate and improve the social security net for all people, he said.

Twenty people were given awards at the ceremony, and 100 outstanding technicians and 55 institutions commended for their superb work performance and contributions to the training of skilled people.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2004)