“The registered unemployment rate should be down to around 4.5 percent by the year 2005,” said Yan Youmin, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau.

The number of registered unemployed workers reached 200,800 last year, with the unemployment rate coming in at 3.5 percent. But the figure did not include those people who are unemployed but still draw a basic salary from their poorly run state-owned enterprises.

In future, when they are included, it will give the appearance of rising unemployment, but this will only be because there will no longer be any concealed unemployment, according to Yan.

Though the economy is expected to boom over the next five years, it will be hard to achieve the set unemployment rate, said top local officials.

The local government will continue to be held responsible for stimulating the creation of job opportunities. Its goal of creating 100,000 new jobs annually will remain in place for the next two years. And an additional 200,000 jobs to be created from 2003 to 2005 will help ensure placement for local jobless citizens.

The local government has set a special fund to encourage enterprises to hire more local unemployed. The average bonus for each such vacancy created will be 1,000 yuan (US$120).

Older, less competitive people will be given priority among job seekers. “Women over 40 and men over 50 will be first considered,” said Vice-Mayor Chen Liangyu.

The government will also encourage people to take part-time work, because this new flexible form is beneficial for both employees and employers.

The minimum hourly wage is 4 yuan (US$0.48) plus another 2 yuan (US$0.24) for the workers’ social security fee.

Hourly work is now popular in some areas and it should be organized and managed according to regulations and standards. This new form of work will be introduced to other areas such as the commercial and service industries.

The social security system will protect these hourly workers, providing various types of insurance such as medical insurance, unemployment insurance and old age insurance.

Shanghai will put priority on the development of tertiary industries, such as the service and dining industries. Such industries will be given favorable tax breaks and other benefits.

About 1 million local workers will receive advanced training over the next five years to make them more competitive. This program will include 300,000 unemployed people.

(China Daily 02/21/2001)