SCIO briefing on China's efforts to accomplish economic and social development goals for 2020
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 27, 2020
Reuters:
The government work report has set a target of adding over nine million urban jobs. How many of these job opportunities are expected to be given to migrant workers? Many migrant workers received no income in the first quarter of 2020. What was the extent of their losses? Thanks.
Zhao Chenxin:
Thanks for your question. You are mainly interested in jobs, especially the employment of migrant workers. Actually, what Mr. Ning said just now did touch upon some employment issues. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach high importance to employment. Among the "six areas" and "six fronts" on which the government has vowed to maintain security and ensure stability, job security and employment are first. In the face of the COVID-19 epidemic this year, many enterprises have struggled and some jobs have lost. As Mr. Cong Liang said, various departments, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, have issued a series of policies and measures to cushion the impact of the epidemic. The aforementioned policies and measures include 90 items focusing on eight aspects. They have been adopted to help enterprises solve real problems and tide over their difficulties. All in all, the focus is to maintain employment stability and ensure people have access to jobs and steady income.
In fact, these policies and measures offer huge supports to enterprises in terms of tax and fee cuts and financial support. As we have learnt from field investigations, many enterprises have seen tremendous improvement in terms of their business operations and employment. The latter has changed for better. I would like to share a figure with you. Between January and April, a total of 3.54 million urban jobs were added nationwide, which I think is a very outstanding report card. In the face of the epidemic, the job growth in China is awe-inspiring compared with that in other countries and regions. From this record card and other data that Mr. Ning and Mr. Cong mentioned, we can see that Chinese enterprises do face some difficulties and every possible means should be taken to help them resolve their problems. At the same time, we should have confidence that the Chinese economy will sustain sound development, and we should have confidence in the resilience of the Chinese economy and the vitality of Chinese enterprises.
As you said, the government work report does set the target of adding over nine million new urban jobs this year. I would like to give you a breakdown. A large portion will go to graduates from colleges and vocational schools and demobilized military personnel. Of course, some of them will go to migrant workers. I would like to share another figure. As the resumption of work and production progresses, over 90% of migrant workers have returned to their posts, and this figure will surely increase as we advance our work in this regard.
You also asked about the income of migrant workers. Affected by the epidemic, some migrant workers have seen their incomes drop temporarily. As China has established a regularized epidemic prevention and control mechanism, along with restoration of economic and social order, the economy will prosper and migrant workers' income will surely increase.
In addition, I would like to add four points in regard to employment. First, we should strengthen macro-regulation with employment as a priority. This is what various departments are doing right now. We will continue to give priority to employment in all our policy tools. Second, we will further promote full resumption of work and production and reach targeted production capacity as soon as possible. Though the overall situation is good, we should pay more attention to "synergy." We should strengthen synergy between upstream, midstream and downstream industries, between production, supply and sales chains, and between small, medium-sized and large enterprises. Only through synergy can we truly realize full resumption of production and restore the targeted production capacity. Third, as Mr. Ning said, we will boost employment through encouraging entrepreneurship, press ahead with reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, improve regulation, and upgrade services to create a good environment for businesses. Fourth, we should pay attention to key enterprises, industries and social groups. As Mr. Cong said just now, key enterprises and industries include foreign trade companies, micro, small and medium-sized businesses, and private companies. Key social groups include graduates from colleges and vocational schools, demobilized military personnel and migrant workers. We will boost support for all of them.
In the end, I would like to say that employment is the root of people's well-being and the source of fortune. The NDRC will work together with other relevant departments to unswervingly implement the decisions made by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. We will do a better job in securing employment to make sure "people will always hold firm their rice bowl." Thank you!
