Liu Dan, a final year student at the Capital Normal University in Beijing, has been job hunting since October last year. As a female student without any relatives in Beijing, she is finding it difficult to get employed.

"It's really too difficult for me to find a job," said Liu, "some employers turned down my resume just because I'm from Henan Province, some rejected me because I'm a girl, or they did not need undergraduates. Finally, I found an administrative job but one of the job requirements was that I must have relatives in Beijing as my guarantors -- so I failed again."

Liu's experience is widespread in China, most people encounter discrimination when they are trying to find jobs. Gender, educational background, age and health conditions -- such as carriers of Hepatitis B or HIV -- all fall foul of discrimination on the part of prospective employers.

A questionnaire regarding job discrimination, which was made at the end of last year, revealed that 86 percent of interviewees thought discrimination exists in employment market, while 58 percent thought that this discrimination is of a severe nature.

However, this may all be set to change with the introduction of a new employment law by the Chinese government. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislative body -- has recently examined a draft law on employment promotion for the first time.

The drafting of the law started in the second half of 2003 and, after repeated revision; the law is now on the agenda of China's legislators. As chairman of NPC standing committee, Wu Bangguo said, since the law has close relations with people's interests, the full text of the draft law will be published after the 5th plenary session of the 10th NPC in order to ascertain public opinion.

"Unemployment leads to social unrest and conflicts between different groups," said Liu Cuixiao, a researcher with China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) who believes that the main catalyst for the new law is China's present social situation.

As the most populous country in the world, China is now facing a rapid rise in its labor force -- nearly 10 million people every year. Unemployment is becoming a challenge that the government is increasingly facing. Although the official urban registered unemployment rate is 4.6 percent, some economic observers believe the national figure may be much higher.

In order to address this issue, the draft law is aiming at promoting employment around the country. The law states that the government will implement new policies, such as boosting professional training, regulating the intermediary employment agencies and increasing financial investment in employment promotion.

Severe employment stress makes discrimination more popular in China, however building a fair employment market is a key issue addressed in the draft law, which contains a special clause on anti-discrimination. The clause states that discrimination against job seekers with respect to their background, whether it is with regards to ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, age, or physical disability, will be prohibited.

Indeed, as well as college students like Liu Dan, some disadvantaged groups -- such as some 200 million migrant workers and laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises -- also suffer from discrimination in the labor market. Most Chinese employers will not consider job applications from candidates above 35, excluding the majority of China's laid-off workers.

China's residential permit system (or 'hukou') ties farmers to farmland, restraining the surplus labor force in rural areas from migrating into the cities and thus suffering discrimination from urban dwellers.

Due to the discrimination, they have little say over their treatments. They cannot enjoy some basic rights, such as work-related insurance and health care. Although the government always vows to protect the interests of them, sometimes they even cannot get paid on schedule.

According to Xie Zhiyong, a professor at the China University of Political Sciences and Law, discrimination also exists in China's civil servant recruitment exams.

"Some posts only accept male candidates," he said, "and 35 is the age limit for the promotion of many posts -- these requirements have no necessary connections with the nature of the work."

Such widespread discrimination sometimes triggers tensions in society, often resulting in tragedy. One such case that raised public awareness of job discrimination was the murder committed by Zhou Yichao, a university graduate that was also a carrier of Hepatitis B.

In 2003, Zhou killed a civil servant and seriously wounded another, primarily due to his anger over the recruitment procedure of a local government department in Jiaxing City of east China's Zhejiang Province -- he had successfully passed the interview and the exam for the post, but had failed the health check-up. Zhou was subsequently sentenced to death.

"These inharmonious things obviously do not tally with the picture that the Chinese government is now trying to draw -- a socialist harmonious society, in which equality, justice and the interests of social vulnerable groups are being addressed," said Liu Cuixiao.

Issues concerning people's livelihoods are amongst the most important subjects being discussed in the recently convened annual session of the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Prof. Zheng Gongcheng of Renmin University, who is also a member of NPC Standing Committee said, "Discriminations may damage the labor market, and thus lead to serious social consequences, it undermines the fair competition environment of the labor market, and results in a tremendous waste of labor capital."

"What the draft law said on anti-discrimination is mainly in principle," remarked Liu Cuixiao, "however, as an administrative law made by the central government, all of the local provisions that are against such principles will be abolished."

More importantly, the draft states that the government is to co-ordinate rural and urban employment policies in a bid to build a system in which workers from rural and urban areas can have equal rights in employment.

Due to lack of education and professional training, these workers from rural areas cannot find jobs requiring skills and technology, which made them disadvantageous when competing with urban people.

As Liu Cuixiao said, it is unfair for them -- she believes that with all the efforts that the government will make, discrimination must be curbed significantly.

However, some experts think that there is still some room for improvement in the draft law.

Lin Qiang, a member of NPC standing committee commented, "Now the draft law has only prohibitory provisions on job discrimination, however, there is no corresponding legal obligation." Lin suggested that the legal obligation of discrimination should be clarified in the future.

Another member of NPC standing committee, Yuan Hanmin, suggested that the present draft law is too 'soft' to curb the discrimination in employment. He also suggested that some foreign experience should be taken for reference.

"In order to avoid gender and racial discrimination, American employers have to keep certain ethnic and gender proportions in their companies." As the draft law mainly focuses on discrimination based on age, gender and hukou, Yuan also suggests that more attention needs to be paid to the 120 million carriers of Hepatitis B.

Chinese netizens have welcomed the government's efforts to promote employment and oppose discrimination on web forums, however voices that doubt the law's effectiveness in anti-discrimination remain.

"Where employment exists, employment thresholds exist," said Luo Baiwei, a lawyer from south China's Guangzhou City, "therefore, a job seeker may have formal equal rights in employment, but he may suffer from de facto discrimination. Any differences in gender, age, appearance and background will become the pretexts for employers to decide to hire or not."

As Luo said, it is difficult for the government to decide what kinds of behavior are discriminatory, since there are no specific standards. Furthermore, anti-discrimination is not always good news for everyone, especially for those who have gender, age and hukou advantages. At the same time, the employers will face more restrictions when hiring people.

"Laws cannot create employment, but a fair environment, which will undermine the efficiency and lead to different impacts to different groups," said Luo.

Liu Cuixiao with the CASS believes that the fight against discrimination will be a long-term process and there is still a long way ahead. "It depends on the level of economic development, the changes of the employers' ideas and improvements in the quality of the labor force," said Liu.

"A single law is not enough -- we need a series of systems to promote justice in employment, possibly including reform of the hukou system," Liu added.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2007)