China's labor minister said yesterday that he was confident the country could keep urban unemployment this year below 4.5 percent, despite the challenges of finding jobs for millions of college graduates and a potential downturn in exports.
China will aim to create 10 million new jobs this year and find work for 5 million laid-off workers, Labor and Social Security Minister Tian Chengping (田成平) said.
"The situation with employment this year is going to remain stable," Tian told reporters at a media conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.
A document outlining the ministry's goals for this year targeted an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, though Tian said he expected the rate to be below that. He gave no more details.
While China's economy grew at a sizzling 11.4 percent last year, the country's leaders have struggled to find enough jobs for the millions who join the work force each year.
That pressure has grown with a huge increase in college graduates. About 20 percent of the 5 million graduates last year had yet to find jobs by the beginning of this year, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.
Tian also defended a new contract labor law that employers say has substantially raised their costs, especially in industries with slim profit margins such as toys.
"One can have expanding employment and a good investment environment alongside protection for workers and harmonious labor relations," Tian said. "There is no contradiction."
Tian said critics, including foreign businesses and some of China's biggest tycoons, did not fully understand the law and pledged to boost enforcement and communication.
China enacted the law to improve workers' rights amid complaints about unpaid wages and other abuses.
The legislation sets standards for labor contracts, use of temporary workers, layoffs and other employment conditions in a rapidly changing economy
Despite months of deliberations ahead of its enactment, many businesses say the law is not suited to China's employment environment and say they could be forced to move to countries such as Vietnam where labor costs are cheaper.
"The issue now is not revision, but full enforcement," Vice Minister of Labor and Social Security Sun Baoshu (
Despite complaints from employers, some of whom he said might try to "lower labor costs through non-compliance," the law had only been in place for three months and it was too early to consider amendments.
"The added cost of this law is actually very limited," the vice minister said.
Along with rising costs, businesses worry the export industry could suffer further from spreading effects of the economic downturn in the US.
The government has said that might not be entirely negative, with more moderate growth helping to ease problems prompted by the accumulation of more than US$1.5 trillion in foreign currency, including pressure on the Chinese currency to rise.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said