Shanghai will use government subsidies to create 130,000 new jobs for laid-off workers and surplus farmers by 2005, officials announced Monday.

Thirteen government bureaus will create jobs for nursing home assistants, gardeners and street cleaners among other positions, Vice Mayor Zhou Taitong said yesterday.

The program comes at a time when the city is fighting "a tough battle" against unemployment, Zhou said, adding that most of the jobs will go to the city's two least competitive groups: middle-aged laid-off workers and surplus labors in the suburbs.

The city estimates there are about 1 million farmers in suburban Shanghai who have lost their land due to urbanization and lack the skills to find new work.

Earlier, the government said it wants to keep the unemployment rate under 5 percent this year. The official rate at the end of last year was 4.67 percent.

"As the structure of the labor force changes, finding ways to help people with difficulties get re-employed has moved to the top of the government's working agenda," said Mayor Han Zheng.

The program has already kicked off with the hiring of 3,600 traffic assistants last week. They can be found on many street corners waving flags at cyclists and pedestrians in order to help traffic police maintain order.

The government also said it will expand a tax break scheme for companies that give 30 percent or more of their jobs to farmers or laid-off workers. The program was to end in 2005 but will be extended to the end of 2008.

In addition, companies will only have to sing a one-year contract with workers to be eligible for the deal. In the past they had to sign three-year contracts.

(eastday.com September 16, 2003)