Benefits scheme on tap in Guangdong

GUANGZHOU: South China's Guangdong Province is setting up an unemployment benefits scheme to both protect workers from sudden layoffs and help those who have lost jobs.

The system is to be in place by the end of the year.

The scheme will prohibit companies from randomly laying off workers, create an unemployment warning mechanism and make sure that jobless people can afford basic necessities and get access to re-employment programs, said Zhang Xiang, a spokesperson for the provincial labor and social security department.