Authorities in Guangdong province are looking to provide 1.2 million jobs this year and give equal treatment to migrant workers in areas like social insurance.

The provincial government said in an annual labor and security development action plan, which was unveiled recently, that half of the jobs will be newly created, 28 percent higher than the previous year.

It also aims to help 600,000 unemployed people find jobs.

The province will also offer training programs to 40,000 people on how to start new businesses.

Some 20,000 others will receive technical training. The number of full-time students in technical schools will hit 480,000 this year - the province's backbone for further industrial development.

Lin Jingqing, director of the labor relations division of the provincial labor and social security department, said: "More people will be included in our social security system this year, embodying the Labor Contract Law implemented by the central government at the start of the year."

More people will be covered by endowment, medical, unemployment, injury at work, and maternity insurance this year, he said.

Lin Wangping, vice-director of the labor department, told China Daily: "The number of migrant workers covered by social insurance in Guangdong province topped the whole country last year."

Last year, 10.55 million resident workers and 13.5 million migrant workers in the province were covered by work and medical insurance. The figure accounted for one-third of the nation's total, Lin Wangping said.

The number of migrant workers covered by work insurance will be 13.3 million this year, and the number covered by medical insurance will be 13.6 million, she said.

Despite concerns among manufacturing firms about the new Labor Contract Law, the labor department is trying to ease the effects of its implementation, Lin Wangping said.

The department's goal is to help as many as 95 percent of workers in Guangdong sign labor contracts with their employers, she said.

The department is also this year trying to secure 12 percent wage increases for the province's workers, she said.

(China Daily May 6, 2008)