"Too many graduates are jostling for popular vacancies because of the unbalanced development between the country's east and west," said NPC deputy Guo Guoqing, a professor with the Renmin University of China.

He noted that there remains a great shortfall in high-quality talents at grassroots positions related to education, health and culture.

Migrant workers

Meanwhile, China will boost government investment and launch major projects to employ more migrant workers, said Wen.

As waning foreign demand battered coastal exporters, China has seen about 20 million out of 130 million migrant workers returning to their rural homes without jobs.

Enterprises in a difficult situation will be encouraged to prevent layoffs by renegotiating wage levels with their employees, adopting flexible employment and work hours, or providing on-job training for them, said Wen.

The government will also increase the export of organized labor services and guide the orderly flow of rural migrant workers, Wen noted.

Economist Li suggested granting small loans to help jobless migrant workers start their own businesses, which would be more effective in absorbing them than launching infrastructure projects.

NPC deputy Yang Qingyu, director of the Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Comission, urged for faster transfer of industries from the eastern coast to the central and western regions. That could help migrant workers in those areas find nearer jobs and reduce regional economic imbalance.

The view was echoed by Yang's fellow deputy Kang Houming, a construction worker from Chongqing.

"It's a good thing if those industries can be moved to our hometowns, so we can take care of both our jobs and families," said Kang.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)