Hong Kong Economic Herald:
In the face of the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic, what is the current employment situation of the labor force living in poverty? What are the difficulties and problems? What measures will relevant departments take to help them? Thank you.
You Jun
Thank you for your question. The most effective and direct way out of poverty is to increase employment for a family member, which will mean lifting the whole family out of poverty Last year, there were more than 20 million poor laborers working away from home, among which 40 percent were migrant workers working in other provinces. The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus had an impact on China's economy and employment and naturally had affected the poor labor force. At present, some of them have not been able to return to work and some employment opportunities and income have declined. Poverty reduction by providing employment is facing great pressure now.
CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping has attached great importance to this issue, stressing the importance of helping impoverished labor workers return to work in an orderly manner, of supporting leading enterprises and workshops to resume work and offer employment opportunities as soon as possible to help alleviate poverty. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will work with the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development to increase policy support for employment and poverty alleviation, focusing on the "five priorities" and "two focuses."
"Five priorities" : First priority is to resume productions. We will encourage model enterprises, workshops, cooperatives and other business entities that have achieved significant results in reducing poverty to resume work and production quickly, so as to increase the employment and income of the impoverished laborers. Second, priority to going out. We will give priority to the poor laborers when it comes to sending organized laborers to other places. We will do our best in personnel organization and transportation, ensure their safety, guarantee epidemic prevention and control, to realize "point-to-point, one-stop" centralized delivery of them to their posts. Third, priority given to absorbing impoverished labor force. We will encourage key enterprises involved in the production of epidemic prevention materials and daily necessities, as well as all types of agriculture-related businesses, to give priority to the absorption of impoverished laborers, and implement various subsidy policies. Fourth, priority to provide temporary work opportunities. We will develop a number of temporary public welfare posts related to epidemic prevention, and provide unconditional support for the impoverished laborers who cannot leave their hometown due to the epidemic, have no job, and cannot lift themselves out of poverty. Fifth, priority to provide services. We will take the impoverished laborers as the key target of the online Spring Breeze Action, implement a "one-to-one" plan, so that there is no blind spot, and provide care for all. Free online training will also be provided to upgrade the skills of impoverished labor workers.
"Two focuses" : First, we will focus our work on areas in extreme poverty in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu, we need to allocate more government funds, create more jobs, and provide labor services in other areas in a more orderly manner. Second, we will pay more attention to areas where the epidemic is most severe, such as Hubei Province, and support them in terms of funds, policies and guarantees.
Under the current situation, the prevention and control of the epidemic should be intensified, and employment and poverty alleviation should still be our focus. Therefore, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, we will do our best to reduce the impact of the epidemic on the employment of impoverished laborers. Thank you.
