Central govt focused on creating more jobs for people with disabilities

Central government departments are taking action to stabilize the domestic job market with a particular focus on helping people with disabilities improve their working skills and find jobs, and encouraging companies to widen the scope of their recruitment.

In late March, the State Council released an action plan setting a target of creating one million new jobs for people with disabilities from 2022 to 2024. Working skills, rights protection and environments for people with disabilities will also be improved over the period.

Yu Jiadong, vice-minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said at a news conference on Wednesday in Beijing that finding a stable job is an urgent wish for many disabled people.

"As of the end of 2021, 8.8 million people with disabilities were employed and earning a living," he said.

The action plan said administrative departments, State-owned enterprises and private companies should develop vacancies suitable for disabled people in the three years from 2022.

Disabled people in rural areas and college students with disabilities are key groups targeted in the plan, and who need more support and tailored services to land jobs.

The latest figures from the China Disabled Persons' Federation show that the nation has nearly 18 million people with disabilities of working age－above 16 years old. Among them, about 14 million are in rural areas and need to earn incomes.

As for employing college students with disabilities, their colleges are required to give them more guidance to help them find jobs, along with providing skills training and policy explanations.

The action plan highlights the training of blind people to become massage therapists, saying the nation will channel more resources to hospitals with blind massage therapists.

Vocational schools are encouraged to develop training courses for disabled people to help improve their abilities and competitiveness in seeking jobs. Those with disabilities who want to receive vocational education will benefit from preferential policies in applying for schools, according to the action plan.

Yu, the vice-minister, said finding jobs for people with disabilities can still be a struggle.

"There is still a long way to go to secure high-quality employment for them. We still have over eight million registered people with disabilities unemployed, and most of them have severe disabilities or mental disability," he said.

"Thus, it's a great challenge to achieve the target of helping one million people with disabilities land a job in the next three years," he added.

According to the China Disabled Person's Federation, the nation has made progress in promoting the employment of disabled people. From 2016 to 2020, about 1.8 million people with disabilities successfully landed jobs.

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn