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Guangdong to create 1m jobs each year

By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-18 08:52

GuangdongProvince hopes to create more than 1 million jobs per year during the11th Five-Year Program(2006-10) in a bid to keep its urban unemployment rate under 3.8 per cent in the coming years.

The province's registered unemployment rate was 3.5 per cent last year.

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Meanwhile, observers warned that Guangdong would have to create jobs at a much faster pace in order to absorb the large numbers of students, farmers and migrant labourers who enter the job market each year.

The Guangdong provincial government expects to spend more than 4.04 billion yuan (US$516 million) to help its residents find jobs during thefive-year plan.

More than 800,000 laid off workers are to be re-employed each year in the coming five years. By the end of 2010, more than 56 million people are expected to be able to find jobs in this southern province, which bordersHong KongandMacaospecial administrative regions.

Xie Qianghua, vice-governor of Guangdong Province, has urged local residents, particularly workers who have been laid off, to improve their capabilities and skills by taking training courses.

Still, despite the government's job-creation plans, the province's employment situation will remain grim in the coming years, Fang Chaogui, director of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Labour and Social Security, said.

Sources from Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Labour and Social Security said Guangdong would have to create at least 1.4 million jobs per year to meet the demand for employment.