China to Roll Out Measures to Stabilize Job Market, Xinhua Reports

China will carry out a series of measures to stabilize employment this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, citing one or more officials at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, underlining Beijing’s growing concern over employment amid a slowing economy.

China will reduce the burden on firms, Xinhua quoted the unnamed officials as saying. “Enterprises with few or zero layoffs can receive half of the previous year’s unemployment insurance premium back,” said a senior official.

This is in line with plans laid out at the annual Central Economic Work Conference, where top officials set policy for the world’s second-largest economy. An outline released after the meeting that China will “safeguard and improve people’s livelihoods,” meaning that the government will take measures to stabilize the employment rate, especially for those without a college degree, farmers and veterans.

The country’s human resources ministry also said that research into plans for cutting companies’ social insurance premium rate will be accelerated, according to the Sunday report.

In 2018, there were 13.61 million new jobs in urban areas, up by 100,000 from 2017, with the urban unemployment rate at 3.8% at the end of 2018, the official news agency reported.

“For 2019, China still faces large employment pressure, with more than 15 million new job seekers in urban areas, including a record 8.34 million college graduates expected,” an official was quoted as saying.

The official said the government will offer the unemployed more opportunities for vocational training and boost job-seeking assistance to college graduates, migrant workers and veterans.

In fact, the Chinese government has already rolled out measures to stabilize the job market. The State Council, China’s cabinet, ordered local authorities in December to hand out cash to employers who limited layoffs last year.

China saw slowing economic growth last year. The country’s gross domestic product rose 6.5% year-on-year in the third quarter last year, marking the weakest growth since the first quarter of 2009, amid a nationwide deleveraging campaign and a trade war with the U.S.

Contact reporter Timmy Shen (hongmingshen@caixin.com)