China has always been highly concerned about and placed great importance on the employment of women, youth and disabled people, providing a legal guarantee for equal employment for men and women, and actively adopting preferential policies for protecting employment of the disabled, says a white paper issued by the Information Office of its government, the State Council Beijing on Monday.

The paper, entitled China's Employment Situation and Policies, says that the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC)", the "Labor Law of the PRC", and the "Law of the PRC on Safeguarding Women's Rights and Interests" all contain special provisions for safeguarding women's right to employment.

In May 2001, the Chinese Government promulgated "The Program for the Development of Chinese Women (2001-2010)," which set the goal of promoting women's employment.

With the country's sustained, rapid economic growth, the femalepopulation in employment has continuously grown, and the fields ofemployment for them have kept expanding.

The female population in employment in China's urban and rural areas increased from 291 million in 1990 to 337 million in 2003. Now, there are 41.56 million women employees in urban units, accounting for 38 percent of the total employees in urban units.

The Chinese government has adopted active measures to support the reemployment of laid-off women, the paper says. From 1998 to 2003, of a total of 13.36 million laid-off and unemployed women, 9.72 million started their own businesses or found new jobs.

Chinese young people's employment has become an increasingly striking problem. Of the registered unemployed people in urban areas, around 70 percent are under the age of 35, the paper says.

To reduce the employment pressure on society, the Chinese government has adopted measures to improve young workers' skills and overall quality.

To solve the employment problem of graduates from institutions of higher learning, the Chinese Government gives guidance to institutions of higher learning to readjust their structure of specialties and structure of talent training according to market demand.

In 2003, the Government launched the project of vocational qualification training for graduates from higher vocational institutions, and pooled quality resources of vocational skill training to provide training and services for graduates from such institutions who have not yet found jobs, thus creating the conditions for the graduates to find employment by themselves.

In Shanghai and some other places, a youth probation program has been implemented, and in line with the principle of "government compensation, public assistance and voluntary participation by enterprises," probation bases for graduates from institutions of higher learning are established in enterprises with the necessary conditions, and graduates who have not found jobs are organized to improve their abilities in practice and enhance their adaptability to their future jobs.

The Chinese Government provides one to three years of work preparation for all junior and senior middle school graduates who have failed to enter schools at higher levels. Vocational guidanceis offered in various secondary vocational schools as a required course.

"In line with the principle of combining group and individual employment, China adopts preferential policies as well as supportive and protective measures to promote the employment of disabled people," the paper says.

There are currently 60 million disabled people in China, accounting for about 5 percent of its total population. Among them,24 million are of working age.

By the end of 2003, 4.031 million disabled people in urban areas throughout China had found employment, among whom 1.091 million are employed in groups, 1.236 million are employed individually and 1.704 million are self-employed. In rural areas, 16.852 million disabled people are in employment. The employment rate of the disabled overall is 83.9 percent.

By group employment, it means that the state and the public arrange for the employment of groups of disabled people. By individual employment, it means that employing units hire a certain number of disabled people for suitable posts in proportionto their size of staff. Units with disabled employees fewer than the required proportion must pay into an insurance fund for the employment of disabled people.

Source: Xinhua