Editorials

Hard-won job growth

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-19 07:51

Compared with the lean employment recovery of developed economies, China's faster-than-expected job growth last year may look like the envy of the world.

But to make consumer spending its principal growth engine, the country needs to do more than simply create more jobs to further expand the base of consumers. More importantly, it should create more jobs that pay adequately.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced last week that the country created more than 11 million new urban jobs as a result of the national economy's strong rebound in 2009.

China originally aimed to steady its registered jobless rate below 4.6 percent and provide 9 million new urban jobs last year. But the latest employment figure shows that the country has done better than expected in marrying job creation with its massive stimulus package.

Last year began with a very gloomy employment outlook for China with 20 million migrant workers, most of them former farmers, returning home without jobs due to the worst global recession in decades.

Hard-won job growth

To combat the grave employment situation, the Chinese government has pulled out numerous measures to boost job growth, issuing a number of favorable policies such as tax reductions and social security subsidies to encourage enterprises to recruit more employees and keep from laying off their workers.

The brightening employment outlook bears testimony to the effect of these job-creation policies.

However, as the world's most populous nation, China still faces huge employment pressures, with 10 million people reportedly entering the workforce annually in recent years.

And after three decades of extensive growth, the country's attempt to boost the economy and improve productivity will mean fewer jobs will be created for each percentage point of GDP (gross domestic product) growth.

By leaving the job growth target unchanged for 2010, a year which is widely expected to see stronger growth than 2009, Chinese policymakers are showing their keen judgment of the nation's employment situation and the increasing difficulties to create enough new jobs for the unemployed.

The central government certainly deserves credit for boosting employment to cushion Chinese people against the global recession. But that endeavor is still far from enough if the country is to shift away from its dependence on exports and investment for growth.

To pursue consumer-led growth, Chinese policymakers must focus on creating more jobs that pay workers decently. It is a task that is going to be much more difficult than the job they have already accomplished.

(China Daily 01/19/2010 page8)