Family plan is working wonders in a land of the jobless
Liaoning Vice-Governor Lu Xin is the key force behind the reemployment campaign in what was touted as the industrial cradle during China's planned economic era. The doctor of economics, who turns 52 next month, spoke with China Daily's Zhao Huanxin about how and why her province developed effective policies to aid "zero-employment families" .
Q: How does the province's re-employment project relate to the State strategy of revitalizing the old industrial base?
A: They complement one another. The campaign of revitalizing northeastern China's traditional industrial base should be done through the full upgrading of industrial structures. As a precondition the numerous State-owned companies in dire straits had to lay off workers for survival and revival. If those workers had not been well settled, transformation to the market economy could not proceed and social stability crucial to the reform would be dented. On the other hand, all efforts to revive the Northeast and build Liaoning into a heavy equipment manufacturer boil down to improving the lives of the people, through better employment and re-employment.
Q: Why have "zero-employment families" figured so predominantly in the job aid scheme?
A: In the most difficult days around 2004, we had at least 2.5 million urban people unemployed, with 1.78 million laid-off. Labor departments vaguely suggested we take care of "the poor at senior age", but the problem was that we had only a paucity of aid resources to go round, so we had to use it where they were most needed.
Q: We now have a market economy. Why is it that the government has taken initiatives, rather than fully using market mechanism, to settle the conundrum?
A: We are inheriting a legacy from the planned economy. The number of workers downsized from State firms in Liaoning once accounted for 10 percent of the nation's total. Most of them were aged well above 40, with scant expertise to swim in the market waters. It is the government's obligation to offer a hand.
Q: Given the lack of accurate statistical data available, did you have a solid base on which to build on?
A: Like elsewhere in China, local governments in Liaoning have established a sound, multi-level GDP accounting system, but lacked a statistical standard gauging the employment situation. For better decision-making, we had to build reliable databases. So we launched an annual door-to-door survey in all the 3,943 urban communities in 2005. We've also developed a mechanism to maintain the statistics in a timely fashion. As a result, we identified 143,000 jobless families three years ago, all of which have now at least one member working.
Q: What type of salaries are needed for people to enjoy a decent life?
A: One formula is for each and every member of the once zero-employment families to be earning at least 60 percent of the annual per capita disposable income of the overall urban population. Calculated on last year's level, for example, the annual income of a family of three should top 18,000 yuan ($2,338) in Fushun. As cost of living in the eastern city of Liaoning is low, such an earning means a decent life.
Q: Is there room for further improvement?
A: Not only is the government striving to get all members of the zero-employment families employed, it is trying to create better paid jobs. For instance, the government has subsidized those entering jobs like taking care of senior citizens and babies, for at first the concept was that working with mean income was better than being jobless. Now we are teaching them how to prepare nutritious food, teach English to the toddlers or give massages to the elderly.
Fushun has even shot to fame for being the source of sophisticated nannies, who are sought-after in Beijing and Shanghai.
Q: Does your background as an economist help you implement and develop policies?
A: Governance is in fact a professional job entailing expertise and experience. For one thing, my education in economics allowed me to develop a comprehensive set of indexes to help carry out the massive re-employment project in a systematic way. For me, it is about how to drive the economic locomotive sound and fast. You cannot fudge the issues related to the welfares of the masses, nor would gobbledygook work these days.
Q: What has moved you the most?
A: How the attitudes of the people at the grassroots have changed.
The chronically jobless never trusted you, looking at you with indifferent eyes when you first visited them, when you shook hands with them. Now they have stable jobs and our promises have been fulfilled, and they treat you as one of their neighbors, and speak their minds.
(China Daily 06/28/2007 page27)
