Document to help veterans seek jobs

Objective is to ease re-entry of ex-military into civilian workforce

The government has published a document that includes guidelines meant to help veterans find civilian jobs or start their own businesses.

The document was drafted by the newly established Ministry of Veterans Affairs and has been jointly published by 12 government and military authorities.

The guidelines specify the duties and responsibilities of each government and military department involved in the task of finding gainful employment for ex-military personnel, and they spell out effective measures to help veterans return to civilian life as seamlessly as possible.

Under the guidelines, each veteran is eligible for two years of free vocational training and will receive a living allowance during the training period.

Employers are urged to give preference to veterans in recruitment, set lower requirements for job applicants who have served in the military, and arrange periodic training for any veteran they hire.

Enterprises that hire veterans can be eligible for tax benefits if they meet certain criteria.

County governments or higher authorities have been asked to organize at least two recruitment events for military retirees each year.

University admissions offices have also been told to give preference to applicants who have military experience.

The document stresses that military veterans are an important pool of talent for human resources departments. Facilitating the employment and business startups of veterans will help them achieve their personal goals, boost social and economic development, and benefit the building of national defense and the military, it says.

The document makes clear that local governments will be held accountable if they fail to implement favorable policies for veterans or create obstacles for their employment or business startups.

Sun Shaocheng, veterans affairs minister, said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday that more than 530,000 personnel will retire from the armed forces this year.

To help them with the transition, he said the ministry will make sure that more than 80,000 officers and nearly 40,000 soldiers find civilian jobs arranged by local governments and State-owned enterprises.

The ministry will also strengthen its support for more than 400,000 officers and soldiers leaving the armed forces this year who want to find civilian jobs on their own or start businesses, he added.

The ministry is undertaking comprehensive efforts to collect information on former service members to better help them after they hang up their uniforms.

It is also working to construct a special allowance system for veterans who have been laid off from civilian jobs and have difficulties funding geriatric care and medical services.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, more than 57 million military personnel have re-entered civilian life, according to the ministry.