The Chinese economy has shown encouraging signs as indicators released on August 11 featured expanding retail sales, industrial output and foreign trade.
The country's labor authorities however remained cautious about the job situation and took a variety of measures to prevent job cuts and friction in labor relations.
Gui Sheng, deputy chief of the Beijing Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, told a work meeting on Monday that the "unstable elements" of Beijing's job market might continue to rise this year as economic downturn would lead to "more visible contradictions between labor and capital."
"Employees want stability, but employers want to use more flexibility in job hires. The government expects the people to earn more for a better livelihood but companies with financial difficulties had to axe wage outlays," he said.
Despite the official stipulations on protecting the interests of workers, some companies were still caught shortchanging their employees, said Gui.
He said that the priorities for the rest of the year would be to avoid unnecessary job cuts, corporate bankruptcies and payment defaults.
Under the Country's Labor Contract Law enacted as of Jan. 1, 2008, job cuts in economic downturn must be reported to labor authorities first.
