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China has pledged to continue strengthening policies to prioritize employment in the face of elevated challenges facing the country's employment market.
Li Zhong, vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, on Thursday said the government will continue to support the job market by utilizing fiscal, monetary, industrial and other policies.
It will also encourage entrepreneurship and focus on ensuring the employment of college graduates, migrant workers, and those with employment difficulties, said Li.
Li was speaking at a press conference on Thursday where authorities gave a summary of the country's progress and achievements in terms of employment and social security over the last 10 years, since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012.
The urban and rural employment trends have undergone historic changes over the past decade, Li said.
In 2014, the proportion of employees in urban areas exceeded that in rural areas for the first time, and the proportion reached 62.7 percent in 2021, an increase of 13.8 percentage points over 2012.
China's employment structure has also been continuously optimized with the proportion of employees in the tertiary industry increasing from 36 percent in 2012 to 48 percent in 2021, he said.
The overall employment level of more than 80 million college graduates has remained stable over the past decade. The total number of migrant workers has increased to 290 million, while the number of workers taken out of poverty has remained above 30 million.
Despite these achievements, considerable challenges remain. As the most populous developing country in the world, China's employment has always been under pressure, said Li. He noted that uncertainties have increased.
In 2021, China added 12.69 million new jobs in cities and towns. It's estimated that there are currently about 800 million employees in China, including most of those new college graduates of 2022.
With so many well-educated, skilled and hard-working people employed in different sectors, China has enriched itself economically, culturally and scientifically.
As China's economy gets stronger and more prosperous, the whole world benefits. But with a great number of young people without jobs and finding it difficult to support themselves, it has become a headache for China.
China's youth facing record-high unemployment rate
China's national urban surveyed unemployment rate has been falling, dropping to 5.4 percent in July from May's 5.9 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. However, China's youth continues to be a segment of the population facing employment pressures.
In July, a large number of fresh graduates entered the job market, pushing up youth unemployment. The unemployment rate of urban youth aged 16 to 24 hit a record 19.9 percent for the month, an increase of 0.6 of a percentage point from June.
Since the beginning of this year, the sporadic outbreak of the pandemic in the country has reduced job openings, said Zhang Ying, director of the department of employment promotion of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security at the same press conference. In addition, some job-hunting fairs have been canceled or postponed, creating more difficulties for some young people hunting for jobs, added Zhang.
China has seen a record 10.76 million graduates streaming out of colleges in 2022, according to the NBS, making the competition for jobs more intense than ever.
Zhang said China has launched a series of targeted policy measures to help these graduates secure jobs or start their own businesses. Efforts include providing employment subsidies and social security subsidies in encouraging enterprises to take in more employees, and frequently organize online and offline recruitment activities.
To help the graduates and maintain employment stability, the government outlined nine pro-employment measures that will last until December, according to a circular released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on June 24.
World's largest social security system
In the past decade, China has also built the world's largest and fully-functional social security system with distinct Chinese characteristics, Li said.
The number of people covered by basic pension insurance have increased from 790 million in 2012 to 1.04 billion in June 2022. In the same period, unemployment insurance increased from 150 million to 230 million, work-related injury insurance increased from 190 million to 290 million.
Li said basic pension insurance have been extended to an additional 250 million people over the past 10 years.
He also disclosed that the cumulative balance of the three social security funds reached 6.9 trillion yuan (roughly $1 trillion), annual revenue and expenditure of the social security funds exceeded 13 trillion yuan, and market-based investment and operation funds exceeded 8 trillion yuan.
The numbers, the official said, reflect a social security system that is growing increasingly stronger.
Li acknowledged that current pressure on jobs and the structural contradictions seen in China's employment will continue for awhile, adding that insurance coverage needs to further expand help the population secure more jobs of higher quality.
(CGTN)
