How Xi Jinping plans to quell job market chaos in China – Times of India

Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued a directive to cultivate new sources of employment and address the growing challenges in the job market. Speaking after a meeting with business leaders, Xi emphasized the critical importance of employment for the stability and healthy development of both the economy and society.

“Employment is the most basic livelihood of the people, and it is related to … the healthy development of the economy and society, and the long-term stability of the country,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

As per a South China Morning Post, the president’s comments followed a job-market lecture by Mo Rong, head of the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security, highlighting the urgency of the issue as the graduation season approaches and many private businesses face layoffs to cut costs.

Xi underlined the necessity of high-quality development that generates more and better jobs, stating, “The course of high-quality development should be a process that spawns more, better jobs, and that development should better drive employment.”

Lian Ping, director general of the China Chief Economists Forum, reinforced the importance of employment, noting, “There’s no doubt about the importance of employment … Without employment, there will be no income. Not to mention promoting consumption, which can only be contracted.” Lian added that boosting business vitality is key to stabilizing the job market, as energized businesses will create more jobs.

China’s private sector, which employs over 80 percent of the urban workforce, has been struggling to recover since the pandemic. With a record 11.79 million university students graduating this summer, the job market is under significant pressure.

In response, Xi encouraged graduates to seek employment in grassroots organizations, rural areas, and small businesses. He called for a shift in mindset to cultivate “correct views of employment” and to explore new employment opportunities.

“We need to conduct an in-depth analysis on why there are labour gaps in some industries,” Xi said. “We can start from solving the problem of a ‘lack of workers in some positions’, and then move on to the issue of ‘some people have no work’.”

Xi also emphasized the need for better supervision of the labour market to address issues such as employment discrimination, wage defaults, and illegal layoffs. “We must effectively deal with employment discrimination, defaults of wages and social security contribution, illegal lay-offs and other chaos,” he added.

The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group was 14.7 percent last month, down from 15.3 percent the previous month but still significantly higher than the national unemployment average of 5 percent. China created 4.36 million new urban jobs in the first four months of this year, up 2.8 percent from the same period last year, with a full-year job creation target of 12 million.

Fu Weigang, of the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, highlighted the urgency conveyed by Xi’s address ahead of university graduations. He suggested that Beijing should look at reducing employment costs for private businesses, such as lowering social security costs, to encourage more hiring.