Human resource analysts have called for greater efforts on the part of the government to create new jobs, as the country's economic slowdown has created a grave employment situation, a major newspaper reported Tuesday.
The overseas edition of the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC), cited experts as saying local officials should ensure the effective implementation of proactive employment policies introduced by central authorities.
Greater government support, especially in terms of favorable policies and financial arrangements, should be given to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises in order to further tap their potential to create jobs, the article said.
Statistics from the China Association for Small and Medium Commercial Enterprises indicated that more than 75 percent of the country's urban jobs are created by small enterprises. However, these small businesses, which receive most of their funding privately, have long lacked access to financing sources, compared to their state-owned rivals.
Premier Wen Jiabao last month stressed the importance of creating jobs and fostering employment, saying local officials' performance in that regard will be assessed as part of their overall performance, a move that is expected to encourage officials to take more responsibility in creating new jobs.
According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, China is caught between a shortage of blue-collar labor and a surplus of white-collar workers, indicating a contradiction between the country's industrial structure and its current labor supply conditions.
On one hand, many enterprises have found it difficult to find skilled or even average blue-collar workers; on the other hand, college graduates have faced an increasingly competitive job market.
About 25 million Chinese in urban areas are currently in need of jobs, about 1 million more than the annual average for the 2006-2010 period. The figure includes about 6.8 million students who are expected to graduate from universities and colleges this year.
In the long run, China will need to upgrade its human resource management strategy, strive to improve the quality of its labor force and boost the number of new blue-collar laborers, the article said.
