Premier stresses priority position of employment in economic development

Premier Li Keqiang chaired a working symposium on employment on Aug 19 in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

Governors from Heilongjiang, Hebei, Shandong, Hunan, and Shaanxi shared their opinions at the symposium, and agreed that this year's policies on employment, particularly massive tax and fee reductions, had allowed enterprises to stabilize and expand jobs.

Premier Li said that despite the complicated domestic and international situations, China's economy maintained stable growth, with 8.67 million people getting new jobs in the first seven months of the year.

It is a hard-won achievement, he said, adding that the government should have a clear picture of the challenging and complex nature of employment.

In addition to 15 million new people added to the urban workforce each year, China also had to create jobs for 3 million redundant workers from the farm industry, he stressed.

Premier Li urged all the ministries and local governments to put employment as a priority task, and spare no efforts to ensure sufficient employment to keep the economy in a reasonable range.

To maintain stable employment, policies that support the real economy must be put into place, such as measures that expand effective demand and the reform that stimulates the vitality of market players, Premier Li said.

More efforts must be taken to ensure the stable operation of enterprises, especially labor-intensive enterprises in temporarily difficult situations, he added.

He also stressed that tax and fee reduction policies must be fully implemented to ease the financial difficulties of private and small enterprises.

Projects that address weak links, strengthen economic development potential, and improve people's livelihood must be accelerated to expand the final demand, the Premier said.

“We must press ahead with administration streamlining, strengthen regulation, improve services, and optimize business environment, to maintain the growth of newly registered market entities and improve the vitality of enterprises for better employment,” the Premier said.

He stressed that the role of new industry and new business mode should be allowed to create new jobs, and promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

With a large domestic market, Premier Li said, the nation should promote the development of Internet Plus, digital economy, and platform economy in more fields, and boost the modern service industry, including elderly and child care.

The Premier also called for efforts in vocational training and better use of 100 billion yuan from the surplus in unemployment insurance funds, to step up training for skill upgrades or change of jobs or industries.

More work should be done to expand student enrollment in vocational colleges, Premier Li urged. Over 2,000 technical colleges nationwide should play a better role in enrollment expansion and get integrated into the unified local enrollment platforms.

This will train more skilled personnel to resolve structural issues in employment, Premier Li said.

He also asked related authorities to ensure stable employment, strengthen coordination and closely follow the employment situation.

Strengthened efforts should be made to ensure employment for key groups such as college graduates, veterans, and migrant workers.

Meanwhile, the Premier also asked for more work to support urban job seekers facing difficulties in finding jobs.

State Councilor Xiao Jie also attended the meeting.