Xinhua News Agency reported today that preferential policies and
programs developed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
(MLSS) have helped 14 million laid-off workers find jobs over the
last three years.
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In each of the last three years more than nine million people found
jobs in urban areas. That was two million more than in 2002, at the
end of which central government established programs to help
laid-off workers find new jobs.
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From 2003 to the end of November this year, 27.65 million people
across the country began new jobs. This included 14.25 million who
had been laid off and 3.7 million in their forties and fifties who
had had trouble finding jobs after being laid off.
The MLSS said the unemployment rate is 4.3 percent in urban
areas.
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Since 2003, 11 million laid-off people have received
government-funded training and 60 percent of them reemployed. Some
800,000 people received training on how to start a business and 55
percent successfully did so.
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Xinhua said that the State Council recently released new data on
programs aiming to cultivate a more flexible employment environment
next year.
(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2005)