China aims to create a "considerable scale" of urban jobs and keep the urban surveyed unemployment rate within 5.5 percent over the next five years, according to a human resources and social security development plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) unveiled on Thursday.
The plan, released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, also outlines specific targets for reemployment, including helping 25 million unemployed urban workers find new jobs and providing employment assistance to 6.5 million people with difficulties finding work.
The government plans to conduct over 50 million subsidized vocational skills training sessions, including 17.5 million sessions for rural migrant workers - a key demographic in China's urban labor force.
On the social security front, the plan also targets keeping the basic old-age insurance coverage rate above 95 percent, while expanding unemployment insurance enrollment to 255 million people and work-related injury insurance to 345 million people. The scale of enterprise annuity funds is targeted to exceed 9 trillion yuan (about 1.32 trillion in U.S. dollars).
China to expand urban employment in next five years
A Chinese representative submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on advancing trade-investment integration to promote industrialization ahead of a series of meetings held by the body from Monday to Wednesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Chinese representative said at the meeting that China proposed to discuss advancing industrialization through trade-investment integration at the WTO both because of China's experience accumulated across different stages of its industrialization, and as a response to the demand of the Global South for universally beneficial and inclusive development of economic globalization.
The Chinese side proposed that the follow-up discussions should center on three key areas: exchanging members' practical experience in boosting industrialization via trade-investment integration, reviewing existing relevant WTO rules and instruments, and leveraging multilateral development cooperation mechanisms such as Aid for Trade.
The Comoros, Benin, Chad, Mali and The Gambia announced their co-sponsorship of China's proposal at the meeting.
The Gambia, which serves as the coordinator of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group, spoke highly of China's proposal, noting that it aligns closely with the group's economic development priorities and supports follow-up discussions on the proposal.
Developed members including the European Union, Britain and Norway expressed positive comments on the constructive nature of China's proposal and expressed willingness to engage in follow-up discussions on trade-investment integration.
China advocates trade-investment integration at WTO meeting
