China aims to reemploy 25m workers during 2026-30

Authorities pledged on Thursday to reemploy 25 million laid-off workers over the 2026-30 period and help another 6.5 million people facing employment difficulties find jobs, as part of a broader blueprint to stabilize the labor market.

The targets were among 18 quantifiable goals outlined in a plan for human resources and social security development during the 15th Five-year Plan period (2026-30), published on the same day by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The goals span fields including employment, social security, talent, labor relations and public services.

On employment, it set a target for the urban surveyed unemployment rate to stay below 5.5 percent, and called for subsidized vocational training sessions to cover more than 50 million people, including 17.5 million rural migrant workers.

The plan did not specify a figure for total new urban jobs but said the number should be kept at a "considerable scale".

On social security, the plan aims to keep basic pension insurance coverage above 95 percent.

It targets 255 million people to be covered by unemployment insurance, and 345 million people to be covered by work-related injury insurance — a figure that includes occupational injury protection, a separate but closely aligned program designed to cover workers in new forms of employment such as ride-hailing drivers and food delivery couriers.

The plan also sets a goal for enterprise and occupational annuity funds — supplementary pension programs sponsored by employers on top of the basic State system — to exceed 9 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion) by 2030.