The State Council issued a circular on Aug 27 aimed at promoting employment during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

By 2025, the employment situation should be stable overall, with newly added urban jobs reaching over 55 million and the surveyed urban unemployment rate kept within 5.5 percent, according to the circular.

The quality of employment will be improved steadily, with a better social security system covering urban and rural labors and a further guarantee of labor rights and interests. Higher quality in human resources will meet the demand of industrial transformation and upgrading, as well as high-quality development. The average education years of the working-age population will reach 11.3, and 55 percent of the newly added labor force will receive higher education.

Also by 2025, better environment of entrepreneurship, policy and service system will bring constant momentum to employment. The ability to cope with risks will be significantly enhanced.

To achieve those goals, the circular stressed strengthening the employment-first policy, calling on fiscal, monetary, investment, consumption, industrial and regional policies to support employment. Domestic demand should be expanded, consumption promoted and effective investment increased to boost employment.

The manufacturing industry should attract more job-seekers with higher profitability and more income for employees. Development of labor-intensive industries should be supported to provide more jobs. New patterns of service-based manufacturing should be boosted, and new industrial chains strengthened to add more jobs.

Widened market access, further opening-up, digital transformation and online, offline development of service industry will help boost employment. Innovation of business, trade and consumption patterns is also encouraged, as are job increases in agriculture.

Development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and individually owned businesses will be encouraged to increase employment, and the circular called for better institutional environment and policy system in this regard. There will be fewer burdens on these enterprises to boost their vitality and job-creating capacity, and they will have more support in financing and more inclusive finance services. The digital economy will also be supported to boost employment and entrepreneurship.

Efforts will be made to support flexible employment through multiple channels and development of new forms of employment, requiring the removing of unreasonable restrictions. The document also called for regional coordination in employment development.

The environment for entrepreneurship will be further improved, administrative reform will be further promoted and a market-oriented and law-based business environment will be built. Different groups are encouraged to start businesses, and entrepreneurship service systems and platforms will be upgraded.

Employment of urban youths, retired military personnel, people lifted out of poverty and other key groups will be supported with more preferential measures. Better training services and vocational and technical education were also stressed.

Public employment service system must constantly improve to build a high-standard human resource market system and deepen opening-up of human resource services, it stressed.

The circular also stressed reasonable income increases, better working environment and social insurance, as well as solid guarantees of labor rights and interests.