China's target unemployment rate reduced
- By Li Huiru
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 6, 2015
China has set its urban registered unemployment rate target for 2015 at less than 4.5 percent, the first time the rate has been reduced since 2008.
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Premier Li Keqiang delivers the annual government work report at the opening meeting of the third plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress, which opened at 9 a.m. on March 5, 2015 at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. [Photo by Xu Xun/China.org.cn] |
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang mentioned yesterday in his government report that 13.22 million people in urban areas in China found new jobs in 2014, an increase compared to the previous year. The goal for 2015 is to add more than 10 million new urban jobs and keep the registered urban unemployment rate within 4.5 percent.
In 2014, the Chinese government set its job increase goal at 10 million. At the year's end, the result was significantly better than expected, exceeding the target by 3.22 million. First Financial Daily reported that informed sources said the statistics on newly added jobs are real, and the number of new jobs created might be even higher than that reported in the statistics. Therefore, the Chinese government can afford to reduce the target unemployment rate. Employment is an important factor in the Chinese government's attempt to maintain China's economic growth at a certain level, and there has been concern that the slowdown in the country's economic growth rate might affect employment.
Thanks to a thriving service sector and industrial structural adjustment, employment in China reached a new high in 2014 despite slowing economic growth. The net labor supply in the country has being falling since the beginning of 2013, and low-end labor has been in short supply.
Premier Li also said that the current government is working to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, which can expand employment, increase income and promote vertical social mobility and social justice.
Central Committee of China Democratic National Construction Association Vice-President Gu Shengzu said he believes that the upcoming tide of pioneering investment and development in China will become a major engine of industrial upgrading, boosting steady economic growth in China. He suggested that the government improve public services for start-ups and deepen reform of the financial system to help start-ups solve labor problems by easing their financing problems. Gu also suggested that the government innovate its entrepreneurship policy and apply targeted tax cuts to start-ups.
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