College graduates

The government will offer social security benefits and position subsidies for college graduates who take jobs in public administration and public services at the community level, Wen told the legislators.

Wen said graduates who either take jobs in villages or enlist in the army will receive tuition reimbursement and have their student loans forgiven.

Institutions of higher learning, research institutes and enterprises undertaking key research projects will be encouraged to recruit qualified university graduates to do research work.

To help graduates start their own businesses, the government will speed up the establishment of startup industrial parks and incubation bases that require less investment and yield quicker results.

There will be 7.1 million Chinese college graduates seeking vacancies this year, including 1 million who failed to secure jobs last year.

Chen Guangjin, a CASS employment expert, said the jobless rate among college graduates have exceeded 12 percent, about three times the registered urban unemployment rate.

The problem was caused by not only the financial crisis but also the government's expansion of higher education coverage, he said.

Some legislators urged college graduates to lower their job expectations and go to work in grassroots units and the less developed western regions.

"Too many graduates are jostling for popular vacancies because of the unbalanced development between the country's east and west," said NPC deputy Guo Guoqing, a professor with the Renmin University of China.

He noted that there remains a great shortfall in high-quality talents at grassroots positions related to education, health and culture.

Migrant workers

Meanwhile, China will boost government investment and launch major projects to employ more migrant workers, said Wen.

As waning foreign demand battered coastal exporters, China has seen about 20 million out of 130 million migrant workers returning to their rural homes without jobs.

Enterprises in a difficult situation will be encouraged to prevent layoffs by renegotiating wage levels with their employees, adopting flexible employment and work hours, or providing on-job training for them, said Wen.

The government will also increase the export of organized labor services and guide the orderly flow of rural migrant workers, Wen noted.

Economist Li suggested granting small loans to help jobless migrant workers start their own businesses, which would be more effective in absorbing them than launching infrastructure projects.

NPC deputy Yang Qingyu, director of the Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, urged for faster transfer of industries from the eastern coast to the central and western regions. That could help migrant workers in those areas find nearer jobs and reduce regional economic imbalance.

The view was echoed by Yang's fellow deputy Kang Houming, a construction worker from Chongqing.

"It's a good thing if those industries can be moved to our hometowns, so we can take care of both our jobs and families," said Kang.

(Xinhua News Agency March 5, 2009)