Four years after being laid off from an oil company, Wu
Bingguang participated in a training program organized by the
Zhaoqing city government to start his own business. Last year, he
set up his own Hongli Knitting Shop to make cane baskets for
export.
Successful in running his business, which now employs 38 people,
Wu is among the first group of beneficiaries of the Start and
Improve You Business (SIYB) program, jointly launched by the
Chinese Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS) and the
International Labor Organization (ILO). Currently, 170,000 Chinese
people have attended this training program.
The ILO training program has been carried out in more than 80
countries worldwide, mostly developing countries, said Andreas
Klemmer, ILO official for SIYB program in China.
Small businesses, each of which employs less than 10 people,
employ 70 percent of China's total working population.
The core theme of the China's employment policy is to help more
people to start their own businesses, said Yao Chunsheng, an
official with the MLSS.
The program has been carried out in more than 100 Chinese cities
since the program was introduced into China in 2004. The program is
jointly funded by the Japanese government, the UK Department for
International Development and governments of various levels in
China.
Anybody who wants to start his or her own business can apply for
the training free of charge, said an official with the MLSS.
Participants in the program are taught about licensing, bank
loans, state policies and laws as well as the management of
businesses.
China's working population is expected to reach a peak this
year, with the working population increasing by more than 15
million people annually in the coming five years.
The Chinese government has set a target to keep the unemployment
rate within 4.6 percent this year.
Yao, an official with the MLSS, said the Chinese government
would continue the training program after the MLSS-ILO joint
training program expires next year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2006)