Shanghai Sees Sustained Economic Growth ����The number of laid-off and re-diverted workers accumulated over the past eight years has hit 1.4 million, a figure equivalent to the total population of a medium-sized city. Although amidst tremendous change, Shanghai's pace of advance has consistently remained stable-its GDP has gained a two-digit growth for eight consecutive years, workers' minds are basically set at ease. ����Shanghai has encountered many difficult problems in economic activity and social life since the beginning of the 1990s. In the face of difficulties, the only solution is to push reform and development forward. The municipal Party committee and the municipal government have paid attention to grasping the rhythm of reform and development and considering the solution of current outstanding contradictions in combination with long-term development. ����Shanghai has adopted many measures to help laid-off workers solve their imminent difficult problems. In treating layoffs, Shanghai first established re-employment service centers in line with different trades, letting them dissociate themselves from the enterprise and become "members of the trade"-the trade is responsible to maintain a basic standard of living for them and help them gain new jobs, and let the enterprise go on operation without any burden; at the same time, efforts have been made to press ahead with reform of the social security system by stages, initially forming a network encompassing socialized basic insurance, commercialized supplementary insurance and institutionalized social assistance. Now, the coverage rate of unemployment, old-age and medical insurance has reached 98 percent. While an external protection network is set up, laid-off workers at the service centers are guided to leave the trade and go into society at opportune moment. Shanghai has planned to eliminate the "layoff" phenomenon by the year 2000, redundant workers will, without exception, become "the unemployed" who can obtain social unemployment insurance premium and can seek new job opportunity in the labor market. ����Housing reform is a major move that can easily cause social repercussions. Shanghai has since 1990 set the goal of monetizing housing and continually pushed reform forward from five aspects. In recent years, Shanghai has never slackened the readjustment of the industrial structure, as a result of this effort, fundamental change has taken place in the traditional industrial structure. ����Not long ago, Shanghai's industry declared a new stage featuring the advancement from "developing through readjustment" to "readjustment made amidst development". Today, Shanghai has proudly declared that "breakthroughs" have been made in the reform of state-owned enterprises, which has laid a solid foundation for social stability. HomeNews 1999-05-26 Page1 Full Story in Chinese