China urged to ‘expand job market’, provide support for university graduates and migrant workers in 2021

Name: What happened at the Chinese Communist Party’s major policy meeting, the fifth plenum?
Uploaded: 2020-12-17T23:30:13.000Z
Duration: 3 min 5 s
Description: What happened at the Chinese Communist Party’s major policy meeting, the fifth plenum?

Creating enough jobs for university graduates, migrant workers and the urban poor must be a priority next year, the labour ministry says

A record number of graduates is set to enter the job market, which is still recovering from the economic impact of the coronavirus

Reading Time:3 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

People attend a job fair at the Hongshan Gymnasium in the central Chinse city of Wuhan. Photo: Xinhua

Frank Tangin Beijing

Published: 7:30am, 18 Dec 2020Updated: 7:30am, 18 Dec 2020

China must set its sights on expanding the job market next year, especially for university graduates and migrant workers, experts at a labour ministry conference have said, as the country’s top leaders gather in Beijing to set future economic policies.

Hundreds of officials are in the capital for the annual Central Economic Work Conference this week, where job growth will be high on the agenda for 2021, the same year the Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary and the start of the next five-year plan.

With China’s economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic set to continue next year, employment will be a key concern for the government, along with improving basic living standards, reducing financial vulnerability and ensuring grain and energy security.

“It is very important to ensure a stable job market in such a special year like 2021,” according to the conclusions of a national employment conference organised by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

03:05

What happened at the Chinese Communist Party’s major policy meeting, the fifth plenum?

“We must set our sights on a fuller and higher-quality employment target … using every means to stabilise and expand job markets,” the ministry said on its website on Wednesday.