Unemployment to remain at 4.6% By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily) Updated: 2006-01-20 06:20
China will contain the registered unemployment rate in urban areas under 4.6
per cent this year, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MOLSS) said
yesterday in Beijing.
"In urban areas and townships, about 9 million people are expected to find
jobs. Of the 5 million laid-off workers from State-owned enterprises, 1 million
of those above the age of 40 will get the opportunity to return to work," said
Hu Xiaoyi, spokesman of MOLSS.
"Without effective policies, these goals will be hard to meet," said Mo Rong,
deputy-director of the Institute for Labour Studies under MOLSS.
An important document was released in November 2005 that focused on improving
the employment and re-employment rate.
"Besides policy support, market mechanisms will also play an important role,"
said Hu. "Self-employed workers will also get preferential policies," Hu added.
In 2005, the registered unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.2 per cent,
the same as in 2004.
In 2005, nearly 700 billion yuan (US$87.5 billion) went into the funds for
pensions, unemployment, medical treatment, workplace injuries and maternity
insurance.
It is expected that in the next five years, the number of people paying
pension insurance will increase by more than 10 million each year, or 6 per
cent. By the end of 2010, the number of Chinese paying pension insurance will
reach 220 million.
(China Daily 01/20/2006 page2)
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