Xi Yanchun:

The press conference has been going on for nearly 90 minutes. Last question please. Many foreign journalists have come today. Let's see if any foreign journalist wants to ask questions.

Lianhe Zaobao:

My question is about employment. We know that the Chinese economy is facing downward pressure due to the international situation. In an interview with the Russian media not long ago, Premier Li Keqiang mentioned that it is not easy for the Chinese economy to maintain a medium-to-high-speed growth of more than 6%. Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Zhang, what impact does the economic downturn currently have on employment? Thank you.

Zhang Jinan:

Employment is an international problem. Of course, China has nearly 1.4 billion people and 900 million laborers, so the employment issue stands out more. Employment is closely related to economic development. However, the development of employment depends on either the speed of economic development or the structure of economic development. China has a large amount of jobs, but China's economy is large and the market is large. In particular, the tertiary industry has developed rapidly in recent years. The number of jobs is expanding, start-ups and innovations are active and growing, and new forms of employment are booming. These all have good fundamental effects on maintaining the stability of employment. It is important to know that we also have institutional and systematic advantages -- that is under the leadership of the CPC, we are able to mobilize resources for major undertakings. In response to this year's situation, the central government placed "stable employment" at the top of the "six stables." The employment situation in China has remained generally stable, which is not easy.

These are the main indications: First, the main indicators of employment are operating in a reasonable range. From January to August, the number of new jobs in urban areas was 9.84 million, and 89% of the annual target has been achieved. The national urban survey in August shows that the unemployment rate was 5.2%, lower than the expected control target of 5.5%. Second, the supply and demand of the market is basically balanced. In the second quarter, the ratio of job openings to job seekers in the overall talent pool was 1.22, and the market supply and demand continued to maintain an overall balance. Third, the employment of key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers has remained relatively stable. The number of our college graduates this year is 8.34 million, a record high, but their employment situation is basically the same as in previous years.

Presently and for the foreseeable future, new factors that influence employment are constantly increasing, and there are also many challenges to employment. However, we still have confidence to do a good job in the area of employment. Our main approach is to hold on to "one highlight" and implement "five efforts."

The "one highlight" is still to place a high priority on employment, regard employment as a priority goal of economic development, and regard stability and the expansion of employment as our baseline goals.

For "five efforts": the first is to reduce the burdens faced by enterprises. Stabilizing an enterprise and its available jobs, is to stabilize employment. We implemented the policy of lowering social security rates and this year, it is estimated that the reduction in social security rates will amount to more than 300 billion yuan for the whole year. Also for enterprises that have zero or few layoffs, we will increase our efforts to aid them and stabilize their job positions. We will also provide a series of policies such as social security subsidies, subsidized loans, and tax cuts for enterprises that offer jobs to those who find it difficult to get employment.

The second is to promote entrepreneurship which will drive employment. We will strengthen the implementation of the policy of giving secure loans to business start-ups, and provide related measures such as offering tax cuts to encourage entrepreneurship.

The third is to focus on vocational skills training. This is a powerful measure to solve the structural contradictions inherent in employment. The "Project 315" we just introduced is a national campaign to improve vocational skills, and it is an important measure.

The fourth is to improve the level of employment services. A total of more than 40,000 job fairs have been organized, and more than 50 million free services have been provided. We will increase our efforts in this aspect in the next step.

The fifth is to make efforts to ensure that basic requirements are met for people's basic livelihood. It is to continue to provide "one-to-one" aid for people with employment difficulties, to help families with no employment get jobs quickly, and to distribute unemployment insurance benefits in time to those who are unemployed, in order to ensure their basic living needs are met. Thank you.

Xi Yanchun:

Thanks again to the five speakers, and thank you to everyone here. This is the end of today's press conference.

Translated and edited by Chen Xia, Liu Qiang, Zhang Jiaqi, Li Xiao, Zhu Bochen, Mi Xingang, Zhang Rui, Li Huiru, Wang Qian, Zhang Junmian, Huang Shan, Wang Yanfang, Zhou Jing, Fan Junmei, Kenneth Teh Chiu Soong. In case of any dispute over a discrepancy, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.