The strain on the nascent social security system is likely to become more severe with a projected rise in unemployment this year, says Zhang Zuoji, Minister of Labour and Social Security.
Mr Zhang said the government was bracing for a rise in the number of people seeking the subsistence allowance as more workers laid-off as a result of state enterprise reforms would be joined by an increased number of rural labourers moving to the cities. He was speaking at a conference organised on the sidelines of the National People's Congress.
The jobless rate in urban areas this year is forecast to rise to 4.5 per cent from 4 per cent in 2002.
During the past five years, China has tried to build a basic social security system from scratch. Mr Zhang admitted that the safety net remained fragile and did not cover all the people it should.
Given the magnitude of the task, he said it was not surprising to find large groups of people protesting or demanding that the central government listen to their grievances.
The basic safety net consists of a pension plus health and unemployment insurance. The ministry has also launched a pilot programme to compensate workers for job-related injuries in Liaoning province.
Yang Yanying, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said the system had worked well in the cities, but rural areas were lagging far behind.
