Full, fair job opportunities pledged

Chinese officials take questions from journalists at a news conference held in Beijing on Sunday for the third session of the 14th National People's Congress. (FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY)

China's robust economic recovery is stimulating domestic employment growth, and intensive resources and investment will be channeled into areas such as vocational skills training and social insurance to promote sufficient and high-quality employment with sound protection of working rights, a senior official said on Sunday.

Speaking at a news conference in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual session of the national legislature, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping said, "Employment is a top priority for securing people's livelihoods, which is also important for advancing the nation's development."

The economic uptrend, thriving innovations and new technologies have consolidated the foundation for employment growth, she said.

According to Wang, the nation is shouldering the great responsibility for stabilizing employment and expanding employment opportunities due to the increasing population of new college graduates — around 12.22 million this year — as well as a large rural workforce and complex global landscapes.

"The Government Work Report has highlighted several employment targets for this year, such as keeping the urban surveyed unemployment rate at around 5.5 percent and creating over 12 million new jobs in cities, demonstrating the nation's stronger resolve to expand employment," she said.

More supportive policies, financial subsidies and improved public services will be made available to employers and entrepreneurs, especially young people and migrant workers who wish to start a business, Wang said.

The ministry will also organize more large-scale vocational skills training programs to improve people's ability to get jobs or run startups, and to ease labor shortages in the manufacturing and services industries, she said. The latest wave of technological revolution, highlighted by artificial intelligence tools, has had an extensive and long-term impact on the domestic job market, she added.

Wang said that as China makes progress in developing new quality productive forces and building up a modernized industrial system, there is an urgent need for skilled workers, especially highly skilled personnel and digital talent. The nation will form a more scientific payment mechanism for skilled workers based on their abilities, she added.