Is DPM LHL as talented as he has
been made out to be, or does he need further guidance from PM and
the SM ?
If the Government of the People's Republic of China - with a
population that is more then 1000 times bigger than Singapore - can
accept as the Government's responsibility to create jobs for the
Citizens, it is amazing that a future PM of a 4.5Million Singapore
Population is preparing a back door for his own possible
failure.
NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS
Beijing plans to
create 14 million jobs this year
Rural migrants to cities will be assured of equal access to jobs
under a unified labour market plan
By Goh Sui Noi
BEIJING - Faced with 24 million people in need of work this
year, China yesterday announced a slew of measures to contain urban
joblessness and improve social security guarantees.
These include creating jobs for at least
14 million people, vocational training and wider unemployment
insurance coverage.
Rural residents seeking work in cities can also be assured of equal
access to jobs when a plan to establish a 'unified' labour market
in rural and urban areas is implemented later in the year.
'Employment will continue to be a major issue in coming years and
the situation is grim,' Labour and Security Minister Zheng Silin
admitted at a press conference on the sidelines of the current
session of the National People's Congress.
Urban unemployment is expected to rise this year from last year's
4.5 per cent, but will be capped at 4.7 per cent. The jobless rate
in 2002 was 4.3 per cent.
China has seen urban unemployment rise as restructuring of troubled
state-owned enterprises leads to redundancy and as new workers
enter the job market.
In addition, surplus rural labour has been placed at between 150
million and 300 million.
This year, the number of urban jobless workers is expected to hit
14 million while the number of new job seekers will reach 10
million.
The government expects to
create 14 million new jobs, including five million jobs for the
unemployed, leaving another 10 million without jobs.
At the same time as it is expanding employment through developing
labour-intensive businesses, the ministry will strengthen
vocational training of workers, including rural migrants.
Measures will also be taken to ensure that the closing down and
restructuring of state firms take place in a 'planned and phased
manner' to contain the unemployment rate.
The dilemma for the Chinese government is that the necessary
restructuring of state firms has led to massive layoffs, which
could shake social stability.
On the issue of rural migrant workers who now number 93 million but
are expected to increase at a rate of about 10 million yearly, Mr
Zheng said that ensuring equal access to employment for them was a
'leading component' of the work to be done by his ministry.
This includes the establishment of a unified labour market in rural
and urban areas, providing employment training to rural migrant
workers, protecting their rights and interests, providing better
services to them and meting out punishment to employers who
discriminate against them.
On social security, Mr Zheng
said work would continue to put in place a social security system
that would cover the entire urban population, ranging from health
and unemployment to pensions for retirees.
For a start, a trial social security system in Liaoning will be
extended this year to two other rust-belt provinces in the
north-east, Heilongjiang and Jilin.
There are no plans yet for a comprehensive social security system
to cover the 800 million Chinese living in the countryside.
But some rich coastal provinces have started pilot social security
schemes for their rural populations, which benefit 60 million, and
the ministry will continue to push these programmes.
For them, the 'most effective way' was to have strict land
protection, restrict land requisition, and compensate and provide
for the livelihood of those whose land is requisitioned, said Mr
Zheng.
'Their land is their strongest
social security,' he noted.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,239242,00.html?
