The National People's Congress (NPC) has received
thousands of suggestions from the public on its draft employment
law and many are targeting foreigners even though the draft
provides no provisions to govern their employment, said a source
with the NPC.
The draft employment promotion law, which was read for the first
time by the NPC Standing Committee in February, was released to the
public for comments on March 25.
Although there are no official figures on the number of
foreigners employed in China, an increasing numbers are now
employed by private enterprises in management, technology, and
marketing. With the number of foreign companies launching branches
or factories in China, some foreign companies too bring in a great
number of foreign staff.
"It's very necessary to use law to regulate their employment in
China," said one of the letters received by the NPC.
Other letters said some prosperous coastal areas are recruiting
workers, especially women from other developing countries who work
for less money than Chinese workers. "If no relevant law exists to
regulate imported labor, foreigners will make the already-strained
domestic labor market even tighter."
Some citizens suggested the law should also regulate the
employment on the mainland of people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Macao .
An NPC official said on Monday that the current draft employment
promotion law does not have any regulations governing the
employment of workers from overseas. He said the NPC Standing
Committee will further study the necessity of adding such
regulations.
The NPC has to date received thousands of suggestions on the
draft employment law. Mostly suggestions center on fighting
employment discrimination, providing free employment services,
promoting employment for university graduates, the disabled, and
laid-off workers.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)