Unemployed people in Shanghai who repeatedly refuse government-offered jobs will likely see their unemployment insurance halted beginning this year, local labor officials said yesterday.

The expected change is part of a regulation that is included in a draft of the city's first employment promotion law, which is now being discussed by the Shanghai People's Congress and is expected to go into effect this year.

According to the draft law, people who are not disabled but refuse to take positions offered by local job placement centers three times without a good reason will automatically be disqualified from registering as unemployed.

That means they will lose their monthly unemployment insurance benefits and no more jobs will be offered by government placement centers, officials said.

"We should take strict measures to solve the local unemployment dilemma and ban lazy bones who rely on unemployment insurance," said Sheng Zuhuan, director of the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau's employment division. Despite high unemployment pressure, many locals are still very picky about choosing a job.

A labor market report put together by the Shanghai Job Placement Center suggested that only 46 people apply on average for every 100 labor-intensive jobs offered in the city. Large numbers of laborious or low-paying jobs are taken by migrant workers, leaving picky locals unemployed, the bureau said.

Those living in the city who are registered as jobless can take home a government-subsidized unemployment insurance payment every month.

Benefits range from 297 yuan (US$36) to 432 yuan according to the age of the beneficiary.  

(Shanghai Daily February 1, 2005)