Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated the government's determination to curb urban unemployment on Saturday by announcing a 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion) allocation to boost its employment program for laid-off workers this year.
The amount is 2.6 billion yuan more than last year, Wen said in the government work report to the third annual session of the 10th National People's Congress in Beijing.
The government plans to include workers laid off from collectively owned businesses into its employment program this year, he said.
The program formerly targeted only workers laid off from state firms. Last year, it helped 5.1 million laid-off workers find new jobs, including 1.4 million people above the age of 40. The group is considered the least desirable on the job market.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security vowed to help another 5 million laid-off workers find jobs this year.
"We will continue to follow a proactive employment policy... and conscientiously implement all policies and measures to support reemployment," Wen said. He added that local budgets will also increase reemployment allocations.
The government's active pro-employment policy, along with sound economic performance, has brought down the country's urban unemployment rate last year.
Last year, China's registered urban jobless rate stood at 4.2 percent, down 0.1 percent from 2003, according to statistics provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Prior to the hard-won 0.1 percent drop, the curve had been climbing - from 2.9 percent in 1995 to 4.3 percent in 2003.
Yang Tuan, deputy director of the social policy research center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the drop in unemployment is also a result of the successful restructuring of many state firms.
"The market-oriented reforms of state-owned enterprises left a large number of laid-off workers beginning in 1996, placing increasing pressure on creating jobs. Currently, most SOEs have finished reforms and are laying off fewer workers," Yang said.
But still, many experts have warned the world's most populous nation is still under pressure to create enough jobs for its huge work force that consists of urban residents, as well as an increasing number of laborers from rural areas. A foreseeable population growth of eight to 10 million people in each of the next 20 years and the increasing number of entrants into the job market will only make things more difficult.
Yang Yiyong, deputy secretary-general of the China Labor Society, is not convinced the economy would continue creating more jobs.
"We should view last year's drop in the jobless rate not just as a 'turning point,' but more of a temporary phenomenon benefiting from rapid economic progress," Yang Yiyong said.
National Bureau of Statistics Director Li Deshui also said it is difficult to conclude the unemployment rate will continue to drop due to numerous uncertain factors. This includes the slowdown of economic development, improvement of technology and population growth.
The premier said the government has a target for 8 percent GDP growth this year, gearing down its economy from the 9.5 percent growth rate registered last year.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security locked the registered urban unemployment rate for 2005 within 4.6 percent, a slight fall from the original 2004 goal of 4.7 percent.
The central government has taken active policies to promote employment since 2002. Packed with a series of preferential measures in taxes and loans, the policy encourages businesses to hire laid-off workers and less competitive job-hunters. The measures also help the jobless to start businesses, said sources within the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
The governments at various levels have also purchased community services to offer more jobs and more flexible employment opportunities. Statistics show there are more than 100 million working flexible jobs now, about 40 percent of the country's total urban employed population.
Last year, central Henan Province helped 583,600 laid-off workers, a record high, find new occupations. At least 40 percent of those became self-employed, according to sources with the province's bureau of labor and social security.
Jilin Province in the northeastern rustbelt plans to raise 80 million yuan this year to provide vocational training and employment consulting services to laid-off workers from state firms. In his government work report to the provincial people's congress, Governor Wang Min said the province aims to create 500,000 urban jobs this year and help at least 300,000 laid-off workers find jobs.
Before the ongoing annual parliament session, some NPC deputies proposed drafting a law to guard job-hunters against employment discrimination.