Wei Jiqiang, deputy general manager of a garage in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, faced an annual dilemma, not for being in the red but because he needs new workers each year to expand his business.
Although Wei had a lot of job seekers to choose from, he had to put his candidates on probation because he had no idea of their professional skills.
"It is a waste of time," he complained. "If only we had some institutions to provide assessments for the workers!"
From this month, however, his problem will be over with the introduction in Yunnan of a new law bringing in such independent assessments, the Regulations on Management of Vocational Skills Certificates, the first of its kind in China.
Effective from Feb. 1 the regulations determine workers' professional qualifications from Feb. 1 through examinations and assessments according to state professional standards.
"The province's regulations have attracted attention from the central government since the state's laws on labor and vocational education are only in principle," said Pu Linfa, an official on the law committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress and who helped draft the law.
Pu said the regulations would provide both employers and employees with objective standards on workers' vocational skills.
"We have solicited opinions from all walks of life and draw on international experience before enacting the regulations," said Yang Tianhou, deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial Administration of Labor and Social Security.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2003)
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