Government offers assistance to laid-off workers

China's leading human resources authorities will help workers in industries with excess capacity to find jobs in other sectors, an official said on Friday.

"The government will provide enough social security to ensure these workers' basic needs and will offer training to help them transfer to other jobs," Xin Changxing, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said at a media briefing.

Xin said preliminary estimates showed that about 800,000 workers in the coal and steel industries - two major sectors with overcapacity - will be laid off within the year.