Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - China (Ratification: 1997)

Individual Case (CAS) - Discussion: 2009, Publication: 98th ILC session (2009)

A Government representative expressed appreciation to the Committee of Experts for its positive comments and observations on the report concerning the application of Convention No. 122 by China, which would assist its efforts in employment promotion.

China was strongly committed to the objectives of Convention No. 122 in working towards full, freely chosen and productive employment. The Convention provided a good framework for China to tackle its employment challenges. With a population of 1.3 billion, China’s Government had always given priority to employment and had made unremitting efforts to effectively apply Convention No. 122. The Government’s report detailed the national laws and policy measures on employment promotion and their implementation.

The labour market was being expanded in favour of a sustainable and job-rich economic growth. The Government had devoted its attention to developing labour-intensive and tertiary industries, private enterprise and enterprises with foreign investment, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), self-employment and flexible forms of employment. To ensure that job creation was placed at the centre of macroeconomic policies, governments at all levels had established interdepartmental employment working groups for policy coordination. At the central level, the group was headed by a vice premier and brought together representatives of more than 20 ministries.

Active employment policies were being adopted, focusing on: tax reduction, micro credit and interest-subsidized loans for business start-up and self-employment; hiring incentives such as tax reduction and social insurance contribution subsidies for enterprises that recruited unemployed people; public job creation schemes for hard-to-place workers; and targeted employment assistance programmes to ensure every family had at least one member in employment.

Measures were being taken to develop a unified labour market and provide public employment services. Such services were currently offered free of charge to both rural and urban workers, with 37,000 employment agencies, including 24,000 public ones, operating across China by the end of 2008, assisting 20 million people to find work that year.

In order to strengthen skills training and improve workers’ employability, China had established an employment-driven vocational training system for both urban and rural labour forces. By the end of 2008, there were more than 3,000 technical schools, more than 3,000 job centres and more than 21,000 private training institutions providing training for 20 million people per year, including 9 million rural workers.

Labour legislation and enforcement were being improved to protect rights at work. The Government had promulgated a series of laws and regulations on issues such as labour contracts, employment promotion and employment of disabled persons. The Labour Contract Act had increased the number of labour contracts concluded and reduced the use of short-term labour contracts, thereby increasing job security. The Employment Promotion Act had translated active employment policies into law, providing powerful legal support for achieving full employment. A minimum wage had been established in all provinces and municipalities and was increased at least once every two years. A new department had been set up in 2008 within the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security with responsibility for protecting rural migrant workers and enhancing labour inspection. A special training programme had been launched in 2006 to train 40 million rural workers over five years and action plans had been implemented to extend social security coverage to migrant workers.

Thanks to successful implementation of the above policies, China had maintained a steady increase in total employment and improvements to its employment structure. Since 2003, over 10 million jobs had been created and more than 8 million workers transferred from rural areas each year. Registered urban unemployment stood at 4.2 per cent in 2008.

The financial crisis had mainly affected China’s real economy, especially the export sector and SMEs. Migrant workers and new labour entrants, including college graduates, had been among the most affected. A range of measures had been taken to respond to the crisis. Domestic demand had been boosted to ensure economic growth and promote employment, with a stimulus package worth US$6.8 billion focusing on infrastructure, public works, rural development investment and support for labour-intensive industries, particularly SMEs and the service sector. From design to implementation, major projects were required to give due consideration to their impact on employment. To safeguard enterprises and jobs by easing the burden on enterprises, companies in difficulties were allowed to postpone or reduce payment of social insurance contributions, and various subsidies were provided to enterprises that experienced difficulties but managed to retain workers through in-service training, work-sharing or flexible wage arrangements.

Active employment policies were being scaled up, with greater jobseeker incentives for the unemployed, migrant workers and university leavers. Public employment services were being improved: from 2009 to 2011, a programme would be launched to provide internships for 3 million college graduates, and for 2009 there were plans to help 1 million long-term unemployed people to find jobs and assist 8 million migrant workers to transfer to the non-agricultural sector. A special two-year training programme had also been launched for workers in enterprises with difficulties, rural migrant workers, laid-off workers and new labour entrants, which was expected to train 15 million people during 2009.

Social dialogue was being promoted as a tool to respond to the crisis. Enterprises were encouraged to improve management and technological innovation in order to minimize job cuts, and unions were encouraged to guide workers to understand and support measures taken by enterprises, such as flexible working hours, etc.

Social security coverage was being expanded to ensure that more people, particularly rural migrant workers and people in flexible forms of employment, could enjoy its benefits, and the establishment of a basic medical insurance system was being accelerated. From 2009 to 2011, governments at all levels would invest around US$120 billion in improving medical insurance and the medical service system. By 2010, every one of the country’s 1.3 billion citizens would enjoy full health insurance coverage.

Recalling the enormous loss of life and property caused by the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008, he expressed appreciation for the sympathy and support shown by the international community in the wake of the disaster. Various employment policies had been put in place to tackle its consequences, including: adopting emergency response measures and special employment aid programmes to recover production and stabilize employment; organizing more than 20 provinces to give “one-to-one” employment assistance to individual counties, with jobs provided through aided reconstruction projects; and helping workers find employment through labour migration programmes. By March 2009, 100,000 people had been re-employed through aided reconstruction projects and more than 3 million had found work through labour migration programmes. The post-disaster reconstruction was running smoothly with stable labour market recovery.

The speaker highlighted and expressed appreciation for the strong support received from the social partners. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the China Enterprise Confederation had not only actively participated in the development and implementation of various laws, regulations and policies, but had also pursued various employment programmes. China had enjoyed support from the ILO and foreign governments, and had undertaken broad cooperation with the ILO and governments in the field of employment through projects on labour legislation support, the ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business programme, employment aid to disaster-stricken areas, youth employment, rural migrant employment, employment for the disabled and other issues. Such cooperation had given China the benefit of international experience, significantly aiding its employment promotion activities, and he expressed appreciation in that regard.

Although his Government had adopted a series of measures to promote employment and had made great progress, China would face long-term employment pressure through factors such as its huge population, industrialization, urbanization, economic restructuring and the comparatively low quality of its labour force. Every year, China had 24 million jobseekers in urban areas and 10 million rural labourers yet to be transferred, resulting in a degree of employment pressure not experienced by any other country. Nevertheless, he was confident that the issue could be properly addressed, which would not only benefit China’s economic development and social stability but also contribute to world peace and development. His Government’s commitment to the goals of Convention No. 122 remained unchanged and work would continue to implement and improve various policies and measures to promote employment, including, as suggested by the Committee of Experts, establishing a unified labour market and improving the labour market information system. Information on progress made would be provided in the Government’s next report. China stood ready to further strengthen exchange and cooperation with the international community in the field of employment, to share experiences, and to jointly promote the realization of decent work for all.

The Worker members appreciated that the Government had submitted detailed and updated information concerning the employment situation, which had been communicated to the Committee of Experts in 2006, i.e. before the economic and financial crisis. Over the past 30 years, China had been progressively oriented to the market economy and experienced considerable expansion of the urban private sector and a simultaneous decline of state-owned enterprises. In that context, supply and demand of jobs developed in a different manner. There were currently in China 24 million people looking for a job in urban areas, whereas the economy could only afford 12 million jobs per year. A certain amount of hidden unemployment in rural areas and at state-owned enterprises should also be taken into account. In the context of the economic crisis, challenges for the Chinese labour market became even more difficult to meet. The following problems could be also noted: the adaptation of vulnerable categories of workers, particularly the rural population having a low income; the integration of people with disabilities into the economy; the re-employment of workers of state-owned enterprises; the situation of internal migrant workers; and the quality of jobs, particularly as regards occupational safety and health.

The Worker members noted that, even if China had at its disposal labour legislation covering in a satisfactory way labour contracts, working hours and overtime work, minimum wage, termination of employment, etc., the major problem was that the respective provisions were applicable to a very little extent, supervision was rare and sanctions were inefficient. There were currently in China 145 million workers not receiving the minimum wage. There were also difficulties in the payment of wages: according to the trade unions, 70 per cent of the 100 million migrant workers in the country were paid late or were not paid at all. The social security coverage of workers was manifestly inadequate. In 2006, 25 per cent out of 764 million workers had an old-age insurance, 21 per cent had sickness insurance, 14 per cent had employment injury insurance and 9 per cent were entitled to related benefits. The Worker members concluded that it was important to see how the Government intended to remedy these deficiencies.

The Employer members recalled that Convention No. 122 required that each Member declared and pursued, as a major goal, an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment, by methods that were appropriate to national conditions and practices, and in consultation with the social partners. The case thus did not call for an analysis of national legislation vis-à-vis the terms of the Convention but rather for a broader analysis of the question of whether China’s employment and labour market policies were in line with Convention No. 122. They expressed their appreciation for the full and detailed information provided by the Government and noted that the case was examined by the Conference Committee for the first time.

In its most recent observation, the Committee of Experts had noted that unemployment had dropped and that stability in employment had increased. It had also noted the adoption of the Labour Contract Act and the Employment Promotion Act that included, inter alia, provisions addressing the promotion of employment, government support to employment promotion, strengthening of vocational education and training, and expanding employment opportunities. The Committee of Experts had asked for additional information on the manner in which the goal of full and productive employment guided macroeconomic policies, and how national legislation contributed to the achievement of that goal. The Committee had also noted the Government’s efforts to promote employment of the rural labour force in their own localities, and the policies adopted for equal employment, improved conditions for urban employment and organized mobility of the rural labour force. The Committee of Experts had requested the Government to supply further information on measures taken to reduce the gap between the employment situation of urban and rural workers. According to the Committee of Experts’ comment, the Government had adopted legislation requiring the inclusion of the issue of employment for people with disabilities into the plan for economic and social development. The Committee of Experts had asked the Government to indicate further measures taken to increase employment for people with disabilities. The Employer members strongly encouraged the Government to continue to provide full details on all the abovementioned points.

Moreover, the Committee of Experts had asked for additional information on the social insurance scheme. The Employer members felt that such information could only be considered meaningful in the context of the Convention to the extent that it was linked to the effectiveness of active employment policies. Noting with interest that most job creation in the past few years had stemmed from private SMEs, the Employer members were pleased that the Government continued to support sustainable enterprises, in particular small and medium-sized ones, and invited the Government to continue to provide relevant information in this regard. They further noted with interest the vocational training initiatives undertaken by the Government and encouraged it to continue to furnish particulars on educational policies addressing labour market demands. Lastly, the Government should continue to consult the social partners in respect of each of the policies designed to promote full and productive employment.

The Worker member of China drew attention to the request addressed to the Government by the Committee of Experts for more information on issues including formulation and implementation of employment policy, further improvement of the labour market, expanding employment, promoting social harmony and stable development, eliminating the disparity between urban and rural workers, optimizing the current social insurance schemes, strengthening vocational education and training and providing employment assistance to disabled people, particularly in rural areas. By requesting such information, the Committee of Experts was playing an active role in pushing the Government to improve its plans and policies on such matters. He expressed his appreciation for the attention given by the Committee to employment in China and indicated that China’s trade unions would do their part in urging the Government to improve the application of Convention No. 122, in accordance with the Committee of Experts’ requests and expectations.

As the world’s largest developing country, with a population of 1.3 billion, China was facing a severe imbalance between demand and supply in the labour market. The situation had been aggravated by the global financial crisis, worsening China’s unemployment rate even further. Every year, China had some 24 million jobseekers in urban areas and around 10 million urban workers sought transfer to other jobs, while 6 million new graduates entered the labour market. The Committee of Experts had paid particular attention to rural migrant workers in China, who currently numbered around 230 million and of whom some 120 or 130 million were employed in cities. The financial crisis had had a major impact on SMEs in China’s eastern coastal region, where more than 60,000 SMEs had ceased trading, leaving more than 20 million villagers jobless and forced to return to their homes. In addition, around 20 million babies were born in the country each year. As a result, China had experienced a great downward strain on its economic growth since the third quarter of 2008. Many enterprises, especially in labour-intensive industries and the export sector, had seen production severely affected and many had been forced to reduce production or shut down altogether, with significant job losses. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate had remained below 4.2 per cent. By maintaining a reasonable standard of living for its 1.3 billion people, China had kept its social stability, which in itself was a contribution to humanity as a whole.

The speaker added that over the years, the Government had implemented a series of plans and policies in employment promotion and had made great efforts to optimize the labour market and promote equal employment. However, trade unions had noted that, on issues such as narrowing the employment gap between rural and urban areas, promoting the employment of vulnerable groups and disclosing labour market information, the Government could intensify its efforts and perform better.

With regard to the impact of the financial crisis and the grave employment situation, he emphasized that the social partners should play an active role in formulating national economic and social policies. China’s trade unions had spared no effort in taking specific measures to stabilizing employment and safeguarding workers’ right to work, including participating in the formulation of a more proactive employment policy with a view to ensuring workers’ right to choose their work exploring the unions’ organizational advantages by offering the unemployed skills training opportunities and job services through over 2,000 training centres and 1,800 job agencies run by the trade unions, implementing assistance campaigns for tens of millions of rural migrant workers, extending aid to workers in need and launching an employment action programme for graduates. At the same time, a campaign had been initiated encouraging enterprises to refrain from cutting wages and dismissing workers, and in this regard a comparatively comprehensive law enforcement monitoring mechanism had been established. So far, some 321,000 supervision bodies had been created. The trade unions would continue to urge the Government to fulfil its responsibilities, particularly with regard to Convention No. 122.

In conclusion, the speaker stated that the global economic crisis had led to the closure of many enterprises and the loss of millions of jobs, posing a great threat to social stability. Implementation of international labour standards would undoubtedly promote the building of a sound economic order and stimulate economic growth. The ILO had made great efforts and an active contribution by promoting ratification and implementation of its Conventions. China’s trade unions would continue urging the Government, in its efforts to implement Convention No. 122, to listen to the various parties, actively pursue employment policies and strengthen social dialogue so as to achieve decent work for all China’s workers.

The Employer member of China indicated that China was a highly populated country in transition, and that the recent increase in laid-off workers constituted a major challenge. The Government had adopted a series of measures to promote employment and had implemented active employment policies to stabilize employment, create conditions for employment, and foster development of Chinese enterprises and sustainable development of the national economy. The China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) had also made considerable efforts to stabilize employment. First of all, it had actively collaborated with the Government and workers’ organizations with respect to trade policies, by underlining problems faced in enterprises in terms of employment and by participating in the formulation and implementation of employment policies. Secondly, the CEC attached great importance to its social responsibilities and had thus promoted vocational skills training of workers, the upgrading of knowledge of managerial staff, and the training of farmers. The CEC had also sought to explore the internal capacity of enterprises to ensure that workers would not be laid off. Thanks to the stimulus package provided by the Government, the Chinese enterprises had been able to provide employment to an increasing number of workers. For example, 200,000 new jobs had been created for internal migrant workers and new college graduates.

The Worker member of France said that the application of Convention No. 122 by China took on a particular importance in the context of the global economic crisis. There existed, in times of crisis, a certain tendency for worker protection to be sidelined. Nevertheless, China had recently seen various positive developments: an act defining the employment relationship had been in force since 2008. It carried the obligation to issue written employment contracts and provided, inter alia, for sanctions against employers who failed to respect the rights of their workers, particularly in the event of dismissals. The Government, through the National Human Rights Action Plan 2009–10, had made certain commitments concerning the right to work, the right to a minimum standard of living, the right to health, the right to social protection, the right to freedom of expression and guarantees for the rights and interests of peasants. When it came to implementing this legal arsenal, however, problems arose. Many enterprises were using the crisis as an excuse for mass redundancies. The central authorities had authorized local authorities to freeze the minimum wage, suspend payment of social benefits and deregulate working hours or wage calculations. The Government should instead apply existing legislation, making use in particular of real and effective social dialogue. The speaker highlighted the responsibility of employers in that regard. She stated that the pressure exerted by certain large groups did not encourage the Government to promote job security, social protection or a decent minimum wage. The speaker considered that, if multinational enterprises were capable of exerting a negative influence, they could also exert a positive one and improve wages and working conditions. This should be taken into consideration in the context of corporate social responsibility.

The Worker member of the United States considered that the implementation of Convention No. 122 by China raised serious concerns, including, in particular, four distinct but related points.

Firstly, according to Article 1 of the Convention, the employment policy should aim at ensuring that there is freedom of choice of employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each worker to qualify for, and to use his or her skills and endowments in, a job for which he or she is well suited, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. However, numerous reports by, inter alia, the ITUC, the US State Department and Human Rights Watch documented continued imprisonment, harassment and intimidation of workers who had expressed political opinions that differed from those adopted by the State. He therefore considered it crucial that the Government explained how its policies and activities would ensure conformity with Article 1 of the Convention, especially with regard to workers with diverging political opinions. This was all the more relevant given the importance of the current economic crisis.

Secondly, Article 2 of the Convention stressed the need to adopt the necessary measures for attaining the objectives specified in Article 1. Education was a critical component of fulfilling Convention No. 122, since workers who were not aware of the rights provided to them under the law, would not avail themselves of those rights. Education, however, meant more than merely issuing a law. It also meant making sure that the new law was understood by and accessible to all workers, regardless of region, origin or political opinion. The speaker thus called for a widespread public education process to disseminate information about the recently adopted legislation pertaining to employment, as recommended by the ITUC. In addition, he shared the view of the Worker member of France that enforcement was essential to the effective application of Convention No. 122 and deplored the lack of enforcement of employment laws in China.

Thirdly, according to Article 3 of the Convention, consultations constituted an essential element of the formulation of employment policies. However, consultations in China remained limited to the official State apparatus. The speaker believed that consultations should be sincere and broad and should include independent labour and human rights groups, as well as vulnerable categories of persons such as persons with disabilities. Sharing the view expressed by the ITUC, he urged the Government to ensure that all relevant groups and stakeholders, including workers’ organizations, women’s groups and migrant workers, were fully involved in the consultation and law reform process.

Fourthly, he considered that transparency was vital for all aspects of the Convention. He concluded that the Government should, therefore, provide the civil society, the workers and the media with timely reports on the progress of all issues relating to the implementation of Convention No. 122.

The Government representative of China thanked the Worker and Employer members, as well as the other members of the Committee for their positive remarks and encouragement on the efforts made and progress achieved by his Government in applying the Convention. Their understanding of the challenges and difficulties with which China was confronted and their advice and suggestions for enhancing the application of the Convention were highly appreciated. Due consideration would be given to the discussions of this Committee and the comments made by the Committee of Experts. He wished to emphasize, like the Employer members, that the Convention required the Government to pursue a policy by methods that were appropriate to national conditions and practices. The Committee could be reassured of his Government’s commitment to the full application of Convention No. 122 and its intention to continue its efforts to develop the economy, build a well functioning labour market system, strengthen skills training, improve social security and strengthen law enforcement mechanisms. His Government was ready to cooperate with the ILO and the tripartite members of this Organization in the global endeavour to promote decent work for all.

The Worker members observed that the policy and approaches developed by China in the field of employment were of crucial importance for Chinese workers and for the whole world during this period of financial crisis. They consequently asked the Government to do the following: (1) to continue to provide information on employment policy, measures taken and results achieved as regards the creation of more stable employment opportunities, improvement of the residence and work permit system, improvement of the situation of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, organization of re-employment and vocational training of workers in the situation of economic restructuring, strengthening of the effective application of the labour legislation in order to attain decent work and decent wages for all workers, as well as the establishment of an efficient social security system and accessible health care facilities; (2) to continue to assess the impact of the new legislation, such as the new Labour Contract Act adopted in the beginning of 2008 and the new Regulations concerning the employment of persons with disabilities adopted on 1 May 2007; and (3) to continue to describe the role of social dialogue and trade union participation in that context.

The Employer members noted with interest the important role that job creation policies were playing in China’s macroeconomic policy. Recalling that the Convention set out a framework for the development of an active employment policy according to national conditions, they encouraged the Government to continue to develop and implement policies promoting full and productive employment and to include the social partners in this regard. Finally, the Employer members were pleased that the Government was prepared to communicate a full report regarding its policies to promote full and productive employment and the progress made in relation to achieving that goal.

Conclusions

The Committee noted with interest the detailed information supplied by the Government representative, as well as the tripartite discussion which ensued, addressing the measures taken in response to the financial crisis, to support employment by stimulating growth through active labour market policies as required under Convention No. 122.

The Committee welcomed the information provided by the Government on the situation of the labour market and its commitment to ensure that at least one member of every family was employed. The Government indicated that the registered urban unemployment rate in 2008 stood at 4.2 per cent and each year, the country had 24 million jobseekers in the urban areas and an additional 10 million rural workers who stood to be transferred to the cities to seek work causing an extremely high employment pressure on the labour market. The Government also reported on the measures taken to develop a unified labour market and ensure a public employment service, to strengthen skills training and workers’ employability, to improve social security and extend health care schemes, and to enforce the recently adopted legislation on labour contracts and employment promotion, which provided a framework for the achievement of full employment. In reply to the request by the Committee of Experts, the Government also provided indications on the emergency-response measures and special employment programmes implemented to recover productivity and stabilize employment in the Sichuan province, which was stricken by an earthquake in May 2008.

The Committee recalled that it was essential for the purposes of achieving the objective of full and productive employment to fully consult with the social partners and persons affected by the measures to be taken such as representatives of the rural sector and other stakeholders, so as to secure their full cooperation in the formulation and implementation of employment policies. The Committee requested the Government to provide, in its next report, information on the results achieved in terms of employment promotion through the implementation of the Labour Contract Act and the Employment Promotion Act. The Government was also requested to provide information on the results achieved by the measures taken to integrate vulnerable workers, such as workers with disabilities and workers that were laid-off as a consequence of the economic crisis, in the open labour market. The Government was also invited to include other relevant information on the measures taken to generate decent and sustainable employment, the efforts deployed to collect reliable labour market data, plans for the extension of social security and health care and the steps taken for the revision of the residence and work permit system with a view to achieving a unified labour market. The Committee also invited the Government to report on the impact of the measures taken to support sustainable enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, and to foster vocational training and educational policies to match the demands of the labour market.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Articles 1 and 2. Formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. Impact of COVID-19. The Committee welcomes the detailed information provided by the Government in its report, in which it highlights the importance it attaches to employment as pivotal to people’s well-being, indicating that it implements an “employment first” policy. The Government indicates that these objectives are reflected in the Opinions on Promoting Employment in the Present and in the Future, the Opinions on Further Improving Employment Stability, and the Opinions on Enhancing Measures to Strengthen Employment Stability in Response to the Impact of COVID-19. The Government indicates that it has taken a series of measures to stabilize employment that include: encouraging enterprises to absorb employment by providing tax reductions or exemptions, social security and loan interest subsidies; enabling workers to start up businesses independently, providing them with business guarantee loans and subsidies, project development services, guidance and other support; promoting flexible forms of employment, such as temporary, part-time, seasonal and flexible work; and providing targeted vocational guidance and employment services for specific groups, such as young persons and migrant workers. The Government refers to the Employment Promotion Plan in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), which seeks to expand the scale of employment and further improve employment quality. It indicates that, during the period of the Plan, 50 million people were employed in urban areas, registered unemployment rates in these areas was kept below 5 per cent, and employment of key groups, such as college graduates and migrant workers remained stable. The Government adds that the goals of employment policy, economic and social development include a focus on target groups such as young persons, women, migrant workers, persons with disabilities and rural workers. The Government also refers to its policies on employment assistance, stating that, from 2014 to June 2017, it provided employment services to 6,080,000 jobseekers. The Government is also focusing on promoting equitable cross-regional development and employment services in both urban and rural areas. The Committee notes, however, that the Government has not provided disaggregated statistical data enabling the Committee to examine the effectiveness and impact of the active labour market measures implemented. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed updated information, including statistical data disaggregated by sex, age, economic sector and region, on the active employment policies and other measures taken during the reporting period, and on their impact in terms of promoting full, productive, freely chosen and sustainable employment opportunities, as contemplated in Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee further requests the Government to indicate how the employment policy objectives contained in the Five-Year Plan (2016–20) on Promoting Employment are coordinated with other economic and social policies as required under the Convention.

Article 2. Employment trends. Labour market information. The Government indicates that, from 2017 to 2020, another 52.5 million people were employed in Chinese cities and towns, 21.66 million unemployed people were re-employed, and 7.04 million people in difficulty were employed. It adds that the registered urban unemployment rate remained within 4.3 per cent each quarter, and employment remained generally stable. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it aims to continuously improve its labour market information system and has established a system to monitor the overall situation of employment and unemployment, supply and demand in the labour market, the employment of key groups and the employment situation of enterprises. The Committee notes, nevertheless, that the Government has not responded fully to the Committee’s previous comments on this point. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated statistics, disaggregated by sex, age and region concerning the size and distribution of the labour force, the type and extent of employment, unemployment and underemployment and trends both in urban and rural areas. It also reiterates its request that the Government provide information on measures taken or envisaged to improve the labour market information system, particularly with regard to the inclusion of indicators that capture additional factors, such as new or non-standard forms of employment and job creation through entrepreneurship development. The Committee also reiterates its request that the Government provide updated information on the manner in which the labour market information obtained is used in the formulation, evaluation, modification and implementation of active labour market measures.

Employment of young persons. The Government reiterates that it gives priority to the employment of young people, with an emphasis on college graduates. It refers to the implementation of a medium- and long-term youth development plan (2016–25), and to a series of proactive measures aimed at keeping youth employment stable. Policies and measures to promote employment through multiple channels are introduced on an ongoing basis and include incentives such as tax reductions and exemptions, loan interest subsidies and social insurance subsidies to encourage enterprises to hire young persons. In addition, the Government supports new employment modes and various flexible forms of employment. The Government also encourages college graduates to engage in work as volunteers. Since 2017, 127,000 college graduates have been selected to provide support for agricultural, educational and medical development in remote areas as well as assistance to alleviate poverty. The Government has also provided training to 26,400 college graduates participating in the Programme for College Graduates to “Be Volunteer Teachers and Doctors, Provide Assistance to Rural Areas and Alleviate Poverty”. In addition, the Government encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, providing young entrepreneurs with subsidies and guidance, as well as special funds for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. From 2017 to 2020, 17.5 million young people started up their own businesses. From 2019, the Government implemented the Three-year Traineeship Programme for Millions of Young People, such as organizing unemployed graduates and other young people to go to enterprises to undergo supervised vocational training. From 2019 to 2020, a total of 950,000 young people underwent supervised vocational training. In 2019, there were 770 million employed people nationwide, of which 7.6 per cent were young people aged 16–24. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information, including updated statistical information disaggregated by age, sex, region and area of economic activity, on the type and impact of labour market measures aimed at meeting the employment needs of young persons, especially college graduates and those belonging to target groups, such as rural youth, persons with disabilities and young migrant workers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which the measures increase the access of young persons to full, productive, freely chosen and lasting employment.

Employment of women. The Government once again reports one of its primary objectives is to promote women’s employment, offering targeted employment services and standardizing recruitment processes to prevent sexual discrimination and protect women’s right to equality of opportunity and treatment. In its response, the Government indicates that it is promoting the development of the tertiary industry suitable for the employment of women and new forms of green jobs that are suitable for flexible employment and working from home to create more jobs for women. The Government also indicates that it is providing support to enable women to start up their own businesses by strengthening start-up services and training. With respect to eliminating employment discrimination against women, the Government refers to the introduction of the Circular on Further Standardizing Recruitment Behaviour and Promoting Women’s Employment, which prohibits sex discrimination in the recruitment planning and placement process. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that more than 40 per cent of employed people in China are women, stating that in 2017, the number of women in employment nationwide (340 million), was double the number in 1978. In addition, the Government indicates that the scope of women’s employment has widened, with 48.6 per cent of women in professional and technical personnel positions in public sector enterprises and institutions of public sector, an increase of 9.5 percentage points since 1982. The Committee also notes a series of measures taken by the Government to promote participation of women in the labour market by improving childcare services. With respect to the different statutory retirement age provisions for men and women, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has adopted a policy of gradually raising the retirement age and that it will undertake consultations in this respect. Noting the Government’s references to promoting suitable employment for women, especially in the form of flexible employment and work from home, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which the principle of full, productive and freely chosen employment is promoted in the context of women’s employment. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information, including updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, region and economic activity, on the impact of labour market measures taken to increase the labour force participation rate of women and address both vertical and horizontal occupational segregation. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on progress made in expanding the provision of institutional childcare with a view to encouraging women’s participation in the labour market, as well as in establishing the same statutory retirement age for women and men.

Employment of migrant workers. The Government reports on measures taken to improve the employment situation of migrant workers, indicating that by the end of 2020, the number of migrant workers in China had reached 285.6 million, an increase from 281.71 million migrant workers in 2016. The Committee also notes that, pursuant to the Opinion on Further Promoting People Returning to Their Hometowns to Start Up Business or Starting Up Business in the Rural Areas and the Opinion on Promoting High-Quality Development of People Returning to Their Hometowns to Start Up Business or Starting Up Business in the Rural Areas, in 2020, a total of 10.1 million people, including returning migrants, returned to their hometowns to start up their own businesses. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information, including updated statistical information disaggregated by sex, age and region, on the nature and impact of measures taken to promote employment and job creation for migrant workers, including internal rural migrants.

Employment of rural workers. The Committee notes that the Government continues its efforts to enhance employment services and vocational skills training to promote rural employment and alleviate poverty in poorer rural areas of the country. The Government is also actively encouraging persons to return to their hometowns in rural areas to start their own business. The Government refers to a series of measures to alleviate poverty in rural areas, including relocation, increasing social welfare jobs and supporting enterprises to employ persons in poverty-stricken areas. It indicates that by the end of 2020, the number of poor labourers in employment stood at 32.43 million. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated statistical data on the employment situation and trends in rural areas. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on the nature and impact of measures taken to reduce regional disparities in terms of access to employment and employment-related services.

Persons with disabilities. The Committee notes with interest the series of measures taken by the Government to promote the employment of persons with different types of disabilities, including one-on-one employment support for college graduates with disabilities. The Government refers to the statistics available from the China Federation for Persons with Disabilities indicating that, from 2017 to 2019, 355,000 persons with certified disabilities in urban and rural areas found jobs, among which 131,000 persons were from urban areas and 224,000 from rural areas. In addition, 625,000 persons with disabilities in urban and rural areas received training. In 2018, 367,000 persons with certified disabilities in urban and rural areas found jobs, among which 118,000 persons were from urban areas and 249,000 were from rural areas. Also, 494,000 persons with disabilities received training in urban and rural areas. In 2019, 391,000 persons with certified disabilities in urban and rural areas found jobs, among which 122,000 persons were from urban areas and 269,000 were from rural areas. 407,000 persons with real names received training for disabled people in urban and rural areas. In 2020, 381,000 persons with certified disabilities in urban and rural areas found jobs, among which 132,000 persons were from urban areas and 249,000 persons from rural areas. 382,000 persons with real names received trainings for disabled people in urban and rural areas. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide updated detailed information, including statistical data disaggregated by age, sex, urban/rural area and occupation, on the nature and impact of active employment measures taken to promote the employment of persons with mental and physical disabilities, particularly on the open labour market.

Strengthening employment services. The Government once again reports on measures taken to improve the quality and effectiveness of the public employment services, especially for college graduates and rural workers. The Government indicates that, from 2017 to 2020, a total of 217.102 million persons were registered for recruitment by employers, 144.449 million persons were registered as applicants, 71.652 million persons received vocational guidance services, 80.969 million persons received employment services and 80.969 million persons received entrepreneurship services. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the operation of public employment services and private employment agencies and the impact of measures taken to improve and strengthen the public employment services and ensure effective cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies.

Development of small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurship and new forms of employment for job creation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that micro, small and medium sized (MSMEs) have played a significant role in stabilizing economic growth in China, accounting for 99.6 per cent of all market players, producing over 60 per cent of GDP, over 50 per cent of tax revenues and 80 per cent of jobs. The 2020 Assessment Report on the Development Environment of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises concludes that the targeted measures and policies introduced by the Government during the pandemic are conducive to optimizing the development environment of small and medium-sized enterprises. These measures include advantageous taxation policies, reduction and deferred payment of old-age, medical, unemployment and employment injury insurance, subsidies for stabilizing employment and operation guarantee measures. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2018, there were more than 30 million small and medium-sized enterprises in China and more than 70 million micro-enterprises (including individually-owned businesses and rural cooperatives), and more than 54 million private businesses, with 80 per cent of urban jobs provided by SMEs. The Government encourages entrepreneurship by providing guaranteed loans and subsidies for start-ups, as well as exemption from and reduction of taxes and fees. From 2017 to 2020, a total of 17.5 million young people started up businesses. By the end of 2020, 10.1 million people returned to their home towns to start up businesses. The Committee notes that the Government promotes job creation through new forms of employment. In this respect, the Government refers to the Opinions on Supporting Flexible Employment through Multi-channels, issued by the General Office of the State Council in July 2020, indicating that it considers that flexible employment is an important measure to stabilise and secure employment. It adds that incentives are provided for self-employment and starting up businesses independently and encouraging the creation of part-time jobs, and platform-related employment. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the nature and impact of the measures taken to generate lasting employment and decent work through the promotion of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and support for entrepreneurship. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged, in consultation with the social partners, in relation to supporting flexible employment, including information on the impact of these measures.

Vocational education and training. In response to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government reports that it has introduced lifelong vocational skills training system covering all workers in both rural and urban areas. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it is undertaking measures to strengthen vocational education and training services available to jobseekers. The Government reports that, from 2017 to 2020, the number of students in technical colleges and schools in China remained above 3.3 million, the number of graduates remained above 900,000 and the employment rate remained above 97.5 per cent. The Government further indicates that unemployment insurance funds are spent on upgrading the vocational skills of insured workers, to enable workers to respond well to changes in the market by becoming more competitive. In 2018, 614,000 workers received upskilling subsidies from unemployment insurance funds. In 2019, after application requirements were relaxed, a total of 1,261 million workers benefited from upskilling subsidies. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the impact of education and training measures implemented on employment opportunities and on consultations held with the social partners in the development of education and training programmes that meet the needs of the labour market. It also reiterates its request that the Government transmit information on the manner in which coordination is ensured between human resource development policies and active labour market measures developed and implemented.

Article 3. Consultation with the social partners. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has taken measures to fully consider the interests and concerns of relevant parties, soliciting opinions from the public through the internet and other media, as well as holding press conferences and interviews. The Government also refers to the establishment of the Inter-ministerial Joint Meeting of the State Council on Employment, which was upgraded to the Leading Group for Employment (LGE) under the State Council in May 2019. The LGE is composed of 23 departments and units involved in employment, including the All-China Confederation of Trade Unions, the All-China Women’s Federation, the China Disabled Persons Federation and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Its tasks include coordinating work on national employment, working on related regulations, plans and policies, and pushing Government’s departments and local authorities to implement these. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the nature and outcome of consultations with the social partners and other stakeholders, including in the Leading Group on Employment in the development, implementation, monitoring and review of active employment labour market measures. It also requests the Government to provide information on consultations held with the representatives of the persons affected by the measures to be taken.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee recalls the observations made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) regarding the application of the Convention by the Government of China, received on 16 and 28 September 2020, and the additional observations made by the ITUC, received on 6 September 2021. The Committee also notes the Government’s reply received on 20 November 2020, which arrived too late to be examined in 2020, as well as the additional information in relation to the observations, provided by the Government in its report on the application of the present Convention, received on 30 August 2021. The Committee further notes elements from the Government’s report on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) which are also relevant to the application of this Convention.

Article 1(1) and (2)(a)–(c) of the Convention. Active policy to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. Allegations of discrimination and forced labour in the context of the Convention. The Committee refers to its comments on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). In the interest of coherence and transparency in its comments, considering both the allegations and the information in reply raise a close connection between employment policy, the free choice of employment of ethnic and religious minorities and their protection against discrimination in employment and occupation, the Committee presents the same synopsis of the information available in both comments.

In its observations of 2020 and 2021, the ITUC alleges that the Government of China has been engaging in a widespread and systematic programme involving the extensive use of forced labour of the Uyghur and other Turkic and/or Muslim minorities for agriculture and industrial activities throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang), in violation of the right to freely chosen employment set out in Article 1(2) of the Convention. The ITUC maintains that some 13 million members of the ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang are targeted on the basis of their ethnicity and religion with a goal of social control and assimilation of their culture and identity. According to the ITUC, the Government refers to the programme in a context of “poverty alleviation”, “vocational training”, “re-education through labour” and “de-extremification”.

The ITUC submits that a key feature of the programme is the use of forced or compulsory labour in or around “internment” or “re-education” camps housing some 1.8 million Uyghur and other Turkic and/or Muslim peoples in the region, as well as in or around prisons and workplaces across Xinjiang and other parts of the country.

The ITUC indicates that, beginning in 2017, the Government has expanded its internment programme significantly, with some 39 internment camps having almost tripled in size. The ITUC submits that, in 2018, Government officials began referring to the camps as “vocational education and training centers” and that in March 2019, the Governor of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region described them as “boarding schools that provide job skills to trainees who are voluntarily admitted and allowed to leave the camps”. The ITUC indicates that life in “re-education centres” or camps is characterized by extraordinary hardship, lack of freedom of movement, physical and psychological torture, compulsory vocational training and actual forced labour.

The ITUC also refers to “centralized training centers” that are no re-education camps but have similar security features (e.g. high fences, security watchtowers and barbed wire) and provide similar education programmes (legal regulations, Mandarin language courses, work discipline and military drills). The ITUC adds that the re-education camps are central to an indoctrination programme focused on separating and “cleansing” ethnic and religious minorities from their culture, beliefs, and religion. Reasons for internment may include persons having travelled abroad, applied for a passport, communicated with people abroad or prayed regularly.

The ITUC also alleges prison labour, mainly in cotton harvesting and the manufacture of textiles, apparel and footwear. It refers to research according to which, starting in 2017, the prison population of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities increased dramatically, accounting for 21 per cent of all arrests in China in 2017. Charges typically included “terrorism”, “separatism” and “religious extremism”.

Finally, the ITUC alleges that at least 80,000 Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities workers were transferred from Xinjiang to factories in Eastern and Central China as part of a “labour transfer” scheme under the name “Xinjiang Aid”. This scheme would allow companies to: (1) open a satellite factory in Xinjiang or (2) hire Uyghur workers for their factories located outside this region. The ITUC alleges that the workers who are forced to leave the Uyghur Region are given no choice and, if they refuse, are threatened with detention or the detention of their family. Outside Xinjiang, these workers live and work in segregation, are required to attend Mandarin classes and are prevented from practicing their culture or religion. According to the ITUC, state security officials ensure continuous physical and virtual surveillance. Workers lack of freedom of movement, remaining confined to dormitories and required to use supervised transport to and from the factory. They are subject to impossible production expectations and long working hours. The ITUC adds that, where wages are paid, they are often subject to deductions that reduce the salary to almost nothing. ITUC further adds that, without these coercively arranged transfers, Uyghurs would not find jobs outside Xinjiang, as their physical appearance would trigger police investigations.

According to the ITUC’s allegations, to facilitate the implementation of these schemes, the Government offers incentives and tax exemptions to enterprises that train and employ detainees; subsidies are granted to encourage Chinese-owned companies to invest in and build factories near or within the internment camps; and compensation is provided to companies that facilitate the transfer and employment of Uyghur workers outside the Uyghur Region.

In its 2021 observations, the ITUC supplements these observations with information, including testimonies from the Xinjiang Victims Database, a publicly accessible database which as of 3 September 2021 had allegedly recorded the experience of some 35,236 ethnic minority members forcibly interned by the Government since 2017.

The Government states that the right to employment is an important part of the right to subsistence and development, which constitute basic human rights. The Government indicates that, under its leadership, Xinjiang has made great progress in safeguarding human rights and development. It adds that people of all ethnic groups voluntarily participate in employment of their own choice, and that the ITUC has ignored the progress made in economic development, poverty alleviation, improvement of people’s livelihood and efforts to achieve decent work in Xinjiang.

With respect to the ITUC observations in relation to the use of forced labour, the Government emphasizes that these allegations are untrue and politically motivated.

The Government indicates that, pursuant to the Constitution, the State creates conditions for employment through various channels. The Employment Promotion Law (2007) stipulates that workers have the right to equal employment and to choose a job on their own initiative, without discrimination. Under the Vocational Education Law of 1996, citizens are entitled to receive vocational education and the State takes measures to develop vocational education in ethnic minority areas as well as remote and poor areas.

The Government indicates that residents of deeply poverty-stricken areas in southern Xinjiang have suffered insufficient employability, low employment rates, very limited incomes and long-term poverty. It states that eliminating poverty in Xinjiang has been a critical part of the national unified strategic plan to eradicate poverty by the end of 2020. The Government adds that it has eliminated absolute poverty, including in southern Xinjiang, thanks to government programmes such as the Programme for Revitalizing Border Areas and Enriching the People during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period (GUOBANFA No.50/2017) and the Three-Year Plan for Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Poverty-stricken Areas in the four prefectures of southern Xinjiang (2018–2020). The former programme had set development targets for nine provinces and autonomous regions, including Xinjiang, such as the lifting out of poverty of all rural poor and the continuous expansion of the scale of employment combining individual self-employment, market-regulated employment, government promotion of employment and entrepreneurship, and vocational training to increase the employability of workers. The latter programme laid the foundation for the XUAR government to provide dynamic, categorized and targeted assistance to people with employment difficulties and families where no one is employed, and create structured conditions for people to find jobs locally, to seek work in urban areas, or to start their own businesses.

The Committee also notes the Government’s assertion in its white paper on employment and labour rights in Xinjiang (2020) that it is finding “new approaches to eradicating poverty”. In its report, the Government indicates that its poverty eradication approach effectively prevents and strikes out at terrorism and extremism, and at the same time maintains social stability and improves people’s lives, with its impoverished population and poverty incidence markedly reduced. The Government expresses the view that Xinjiang has put into practice the “relevant policy measures of the national government” to implement the Decent Work Country Programme for China (2016–2020), thus ensuring “that people from all ethnic groups work in a decent environment with freedom, equality, safety, and dignity”. The Government further presents the view in its white paper on respecting and protecting the rights of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang that Xinjiang has provided “dynamic, categorized and targeted assistance to people with employment difficulties and zero-employment families so as to ensure that each family has at least one member in work”. Workers’ job preferences are fully respected, and “structured conditions” have been created for people to find jobs locally, to seek work in urban areas, or to start their own businesses. While promoting employment, Xinjiang guarantees “legitimate labour rights and interests in accordance with the law”.

The Government reports that the task of relocating the poor for the purpose of poverty relief has been completed, and that the production and living conditions of poor people have been greatly improved: the poverty incidence rate in the four poverty-stricken prefectures of Xinjiang dropped from 29.1 per cent in 2014 to 0.21 per cent in 2019. Between 2014 and 2020, the total employed population in Xinjiang grew from 11.35 million to 13.56 million, representing an increase by 19.4 percent. In the same period, an average of 2.8 million urban job opportunities were provided annually to the “surplus rural workforce”.

The Government is firm in its view that it fully respects the employment wishes and training needs of Xinjiang workers, including ethnic minorities. The Xinjiang Government regularly conducts surveys of labourers’ willingness to find employment and keep abreast of their needs in terms of employment location, job positions, remuneration, working conditions, living environment, development prospects and training needs. These surveys demonstrate that more urban and rural “surplus” workers hope to go to cities in northern Xinjiang or other more developed provinces and cities in other parts of the country, which offer higher wages, better working conditions and a better living environment. Ethnic minorities count on the government to provide more employment information and other public employment services to their members. The fact that ethnic minority workers go out to work is entirely voluntary, autonomous and free. According to the Government, the Three-Year Plan for southern Xinjiang explicitly refers to the “willingness for employment” and states that the wishes of individuals “who are unwilling to work due to health and other reasons” shall be fully respected, and that they will never be forced to register for training.

The Government stresses that language training for ethnic minority workers in Xinjiang is necessary to increase their language ability, and enhance their employability, and does not deprive them of the right to use their own language.

The Government also replies to the ITUC allegations that the Uyghur and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang are not paid the applicable local minimum wage, indicating that the Labour Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that the minimum wage system applies across the country, although minimum wage standards may vary across administrative regions. As of 1 April 2021, the minimum wage in Xinjiang is divided into four grades: 1,900 yuan, 1,700 yuan, 1,620 yuan and 1,540 yuan. The Government considers reports that the wages of some migrant workers in Xinjiang are as low as US$114 (approximately 729 yuan) per month to be groundless, stating that the overwhelming majority of this information is taken from individual interviews and lacks clear sources of data or statistical information. In addition, the Government points out that the reports do not fully clarify whether the workers concerned are working less than the statutory working hours, in which case they would be paid less. The Government states that by going out to work, the actual income of many people is much higher than the minimum wage of Xinjiang.

The Government also reports that the local government of Xinjiang has put in place labour inspection systems for protecting the rights and interests of workers and addressing their reports and complaints concerning wage arrears, failure to sign labour contracts and other infringements. The Government indicates that it will take steps to further strengthen the supervision and inspection of employer compliance with minimum wage provisions, call on employers to respect the minimum wage standards and address violations.

The Government provides detailed information on its laws, regulations and policies regarding freedom of religion; equality among the 56 ethnic groups in China and for consolidating and developing unity between and within these groups.

The Government also replies to the ITUC allegations that the restrictions on the free choice of employment are aimed at alienating ethnic and religious minorities from their religion, culture and beliefs. It reports that China adopts policies securing freedom of religious belief; manages religious affairs in accordance with the law; adheres to the principle of independence from foreign countries and self-management; and actively guides religions to adapt to the socialist society so that religious believers may love their country and compatriots, safeguard national unity, ethnic solidarity, be subordinate to and serve the overall interests of the nation and the Chinese people. The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Activities of Overseas Non-Governmental Organizations within China prohibits overseas NGOs from illegally engaging in or sponsoring religious activities. China’s Criminal Law, National Security Law, and Counter-Terrorism Law provide for the protection of citizens’ freedom of religious belief. The Counter-Terrorism Law of the People’s Republic of China states that China opposes all extremism that seeks to instigate hatred, incite discrimination and advocate violence by distorting religious doctrines or through other means, and forbids any discriminatory behaviour on the grounds of region, ethnicity and religion. The Regulations on Religious Affairs prohibit any organization or individual from advocating, supporting or sponsoring religious extremism, or using religion to undermine ethnic unity, divide the country, or engage in terrorist activities. According to the Government, China takes measures against the propagation and spread of religious extremism, and at the same time, carefully avoids linking violent terrorism and religious extremism with any particular ethnic group or religion.

The Committee takes due note of the ITUC allegations, the response and additional information provided by the Government and the various employment and vocational training policies as articulated in various recent “white papers” referred to by the Government in its report and other legal and policy documents referred to by United Nations human rights experts.

The Committee recalls that the Convention’s objective of promoting full employment does not require ratifying States to guarantee work for all who are available for and seeking work, nor does it imply that everyone must be in employment at all times (2020 General Survey on promoting employment and decent work in a changing landscape, paragraph 54). The Convention does, however, require ratifying States to promote freedom to choose one’s employment and occupation, as well as equal access to opportunities for training and general education to prepare for jobs, without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, national origin, religion or other grounds of discrimination covered under Convention No. 111 or other international labour standards such as the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, (No. 159).

In this context, the Committee notes that training facilities that house the Uyghur population and other Turkic and Muslim minorities separate them from the mainstream educational and vocational training, vocational guidance and placement services available to all other groups in the region throughout the country at large. Such separation may lead to active labour market policies in China being designed and implemented in a manner that generates coercion in the choice of employment and has a discriminatory effect on ethnic and religious minorities. Photographs of the facilities, equipped with guard towers and tall surrounding walls topped with barbed wire further reinforce the observation of segregation. The Committee has observed before that some workers from ethnic minorities face challenges in seeking to engage in the occupation of their choice because of indirect discrimination. For example, biased approaches towards the traditional occupations engaged in by certain ethnic groups, which are often perceived as outdated, unproductive or environmentally harmful, continue to pose serious challenges to the enjoyment of equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of occupation (general observation on Convention No. 111, 2019). The Committee addresses other aspects of the particular system for vocational training and education aimed at the de-radicalization of ethnic and religious minorities in its comment on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).

The Committee recalls that, while the Convention requires ratifying States to declare and pursue as a major goal an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment with the objective of stimulating economic growth and development and meeting manpower requirements, employment policy must also promote free choice of employment by enabling each worker to train for employment which can subsequently be freely chosen, in accordance with Article 1(2)(c) of the Convention.

Article 1(2)(c) provides that the national employment policy shall aim to ensure that “there is freedom of choice of employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each worker to qualify for, and to use his skills and endowments in, a job for which he or she is well suited, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin”. In its 2020 General Survey on promoting employment and decent work in a changing landscape, paragraphs 68–69, the Committee noted that “the objective of freely chosen employment consists of two elements. First, no person shall be compelled or forced to undertake work that has not been freely chosen or accepted or prevented from leaving work if he or she so wishes”. Second, all persons should have the opportunity to acquire qualifications and to use their skills and endowments free from any discrimination. Moreover, the Committee recalls that the prevention and prohibition of compulsory labour is a condition sine qua non of freedom of choice of employment (2020 General Survey, paragraph 70).

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the ITUC observations are based on individual statements and are unsubstantiated; however, it notes that the ITUC observations also append additional sources containing statistical data; references to first-hand testimonies, testimonies of eyewitnesses, family and relatives; research papers; and photographs of vocational training and education centres.

The Committee also notes that, on 29 March 2021, a number of United Nations human rights experts (including Special Rapporteurs and thematic working groups mandated by the UN Human Rights Council) expressed serious concern with regard to the alleged detention and forced labour of Uyghur and other Turkic and/or Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The UN experts indicate that Uyghur workers have been held in “re-education” facilities, with many also forcibly transferred to work in factories in Xinjiang. They further indicate that Uyghur workers have allegedly been forcibly employed in low-skilled, labour-intensive industries, such as agribusiness, textile and garment, automotive and technological sectors.

The Committee recognizes and welcomes the strong commitment of the Government to the eradication of poverty. However, it is the Committee’s firm view that poverty eradication and the realization of the right to work to that end encompasses not only job placement and job retention but also the conditions under which the Government executes such placement and retention. The Convention does not only require the Government to pursue full employment but also to ensure that its employment policies do not entail any direct or indirect discriminatory effect in relation to recruitment, conditions of work, opportunities for training and advancement, termination, or any other employment-related conditions, including discrimination in choice of occupation.

The Committee is of the view that at the heart of the sustainable reduction of poverty lies the active enhancement of individual and collective capabilities, autonomy and agency that find their expression in the full recognition of the identity of ethnic minorities and their capability to freely and without any threat or fear choose rural or urban livelihoods and employment. The obligation under the Convention is not to guarantee job placement and retention for all individuals by any means available but to create the framework conditions for decent job creation and sustainable enterprises.

The Committee takes due note of the view expressed in the Government’s report that “some forces recklessly sensationalize the so-called “forced labour” issue in Xinjiang on various occasions”, adding that this is “nothing but a downright lie, a dirty trick with ulterior motives”. The Committee is bound to observe, however, that the employment situation of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China provides numerous indications of coercive measures many of which arise from regulatory and policy documents.

The Government’s references to significant numbers of “surplus rural labour” being “relocated” to industrial and agricultural employment sites located inside and outside Xinjiang under “structured conditions” of “labour management” in combination with a vocational training policy targeting de-radicalization of ethnic and religious minorities and at least in part carried out in high-security and high-surveillance settings raise serious concerns as to the ability of ethnic and religious minorities to exercise freely chosen employment without discrimination. Various indicators suggest the presence of a “labour transfer policy” using measures severely restricting the free choice of employment. These include government-led mobilization of rural households with local townships organizing transfers in accordance with labour export quotas; the relocation or transfer of workers under security escort; on-site management and retention of workers under strict surveillance; the threat of internment in vocational education and training centres if workers do not accept “government administration”; and the inability of placed workers to freely change employers.

The Committee urges the Government to provide detailed updated information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that its national employment policy effectively promotes both productive and freely chosen employment, including free choice of occupation, and effectively prevents all forms of forced or compulsory labour. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to take immediate measures to ensure that the vocational training and education programmes that form part of its poverty alleviation activities focused in the Uyghur Autonomous Region are mainstreamed and delivered in publicly accessible institutions, so that all segments of the population may benefit from these services on an equal basis, with a view to enhancing their access to full, productive and freely chosen employment and decent work. Recalling that, under the Employment Promotion Law (2007) and the Vocational Education law (1996), workers have “the right to equal employment and to choose a job of their own initiative” and to access vocational education and training, respectively, the Committee asks the Government to provide detailed information on the manner in which this right is effectively ensured, particularly for those belonging to the Uyghur minority and other Turkic and/or Muslim minorities. The Government is also requested to provide detailed information, including disaggregated statistical data, on the nature of the different vocational education and training courses offered, the types of courses in which Uyghur minorities have participated, and the numbers of participants in each course, as well as the impact of the education and training on their access to freely chosen and sustainable employment.

Article 3 of the Convention. Consultation. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which representatives of workers and employers organizations were consulted with respect to the design, development, implementation, monitoring and review of the active labour market measures being taken in the Uyghur Autonomous Region. In addition, and given the focus of the active labour market measures on the Uyghur and other Turkic/Muslim minorities, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which the representatives of these groups have been consulted, as required under Article 3.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

The Committee notes the observations made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) regarding the application of the Convention by the Government of China, received on 15 September 2020, which are also being considered within the framework of its examination of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). In its observations, the ITUC alleges that, since the Government submitted its most recent report on the application of the Convention in 2017, the Government of China has been engaging in a programme involving the extensive use of forced labour of the Uyghur and other minorities for agriculture and industrial activities throughout the Uyghur Autonomous Region in violation of the right to freely chosen employment set out in Article 1(2) of the Convention. The ITUC alleges that the Government’s program includes key components referred to as “poverty alleviation”, vocational training, re-education through labour and “de-extremification”. The key feature of the programme is the use of forced or compulsory labour in or around internment camps housing some 1.8 million Uyghur and other Turkic and/or Muslim peoples in the region, as well as in prisons and workplaces across the Uyghur Autonomous Region and the country. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in response to these allegations, which has arrived too late for the Committee’s examination. The Committee will examine these matters next year along with the Government’s report in reply to its previous direct request, which is due in 2021.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee welcomes the detailed information provided by the Government in its report, in which it indicates that it places a priority on the employment stabilization and expansion for economic and social development and to improve livelihoods and alleviate poverty. In this regard, the Government aims to strengthen the links between macroeconomic and employment policies, with a view to supporting economic development through employment transformation. The Committee notes that China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–20) on Promoting Employment, launched in 2017, sets out the Government’s principal objectives in relation to employment promotion. These objectives are also reflected in additional documents provided by the Government, such as in the 2017 report “Opinions on Facilitating Employment and Entrepreneurship Currently and in the Future” (the 2017 Opinions report). The Committee notes that the stated objectives include enhancing economic development to create jobs while preventing unemployment, particularly for targeted groups such as young persons, women, migrant workers, persons with disabilities, rural workers and laid-off workers. The Government refers to its policies on employment assistance, stating that, from 2014 to June 2017, it provided employment services to 6,080,000 jobseekers. The Government is also focusing on promoting equitable cross-regional development and employment services in both urban and rural areas. The Committee notes, however, that the Government has not provided information on specific measures taken, nor has it provided statistical data enabling the Committee to examine the effectiveness and impact of the active labour market measures implemented. The Committee therefore reiterates its request that the Government provide detailed information, including statistical information, disaggregated by sex, age and economic sector and region, on active employment policies and other measures taken during the reporting period, and on their impact in terms of promoting full, productive, freely chosen and sustainable employment opportunities, as contemplated in Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee further requests the Government to indicate how the employment policy objectives contained in the Five-Year Plan (2016–20) on Promoting Employment are related to other economic and social objectives. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which it is ensured that employment policy measures are kept under periodic review within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy.

Article 2. Employment trends. Labour market information. The Government indicates that, in 2014–16, 39.48 per cent of persons were employed in urban areas, and the registered unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.05 per cent during this period. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it aims to improve its labour market information system and gradually integrate gender and other indicators. The Committee recalls that the Government has established a system for compiling and analysing information on job supply and demand in more than 100 representative cities on a quarterly basis. This information is used as a basis for adjusting employment policies as needed. The Government also periodically disseminates this information through internet, the public employment service and the media to provide guidance for jobseekers and employers. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated statistics concerning the size and distribution of the labour force, the type and extent of employment, unemployment and underemployment and trends both in urban and rural areas. It also requests the Government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to improve the labour market information system, particularly with regard to the inclusion of indicators that capture additional factors, such as new or non-standard forms of employment and job creation through entrepreneurship development. The Committee also requests the Government to provide updated information on the manner in which the labour market information obtained is used in the formulation, evaluation, modification and implementation of active labour market measures.

Employment of young persons. The Government places a priority on the employment of college graduates in all regions through a range of activities, including entrepreneurship and training guidance, thereby, encouraging graduates to launch small and micro-enterprises. In 2014–16, 1,651,000 college graduates started up their own businesses. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information, including updated statistical information disaggregated by age, sex and region, on the type and impact of labour market measures aimed at meeting the employment needs of young persons, especially college graduates. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the measures enacted or envisaged to facilitate the transition of young persons from school to work.

Employment of women. The Government stresses that one of its primary objectives is to promote fair employment for women, offering targeted employment services and standardizing recruitment processes to prevent sexual discrimination and protect women’s right to equality of opportunity and treatment. The Committee refers to its 2016 comments concerning the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), in which it noted the different statutory retirement age provisions for men and women. In addition, referring to the ILO publication Women in the labour market in China (2015), the Committee noted that the labour force participation rate of women decreased between 1990 and 2013, falling from 72.7 to 63.9 per cent, and that the gap between men and women in this regard widened from 12.1 per cent in 1990 to 14.4 per cent in 2013. The ILO publication took note of decreased institutional support provided to workers with family responsibilities for childcare, and observed that sectoral and occupational segregation persists. The Committee requests the Government to provide information, including updated statistical information, on the impact of labour market measures taken to increase the labour force participation rate of women and address both vertical and horizontal occupational segregation, including information disaggregated by region and occupation. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate any measures taken or envisaged to expand the provision of institutional childcare with a view to encouraging women’s participation in the labour market, as well as to indicate the measures taken to establish the same statutory retirement age for women and men.

Employment of migrant workers. The Government indicates that as of 2016 there were 281.71 million migrant workers, including rural migrant workers, in the country. The Committee notes that, according to the 2015 Opinions on Further Improving the Employment and Entrepreneurship in the New Situation, the Government aims to enhance the vocational skills of migrant workers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information, including updated statistical information, on the measures taken or envisaged to meet the employment needs of migrant workers, including internal rural migrants.

Employment of rural workers. The Committee notes that the Government is undertaking to enhance employment services and vocational skills training to promote rural employment and eradicate poverty in poorer rural areas of the country. The Government is also encouraging those returning to rural areas to start their own business. The Committee notes the “hukou reform”, which aims to promote the employment of migrant workers in rural areas. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to promote the employment of rural workers, including updated statistical data on the employment situation and trends. The Committee also requests the Government to provide more information on the status of the “hukou reform” and its impact on regional disparities.

Persons with disabilities. In its 2016 direct request concerning the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159), the Committee noted that two out of three persons with disabilities in China live in rural areas, and that a considerable percentage of these persons are living in poverty. In addition, the Committee notes the ILO report on the Inclusion of People with Disabilities in China, which notes that 36 per cent of persons with disabilities aged 15 or older in China are illiterate. The Government refers to employment services tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities, indicating that it seeks to ensure respect of the rights of persons with disabilities in the workplace. It provides employment assistance to persons with disabilities, helping them to access jobs by providing subsidies to employers. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated detailed information on the nature and impact of active employment measures taken to promote the employment of persons with mental and physical disabilities, particularly on the open labour market.

Strengthening employment services. The Government reports on measures taken to improve the quality and effectiveness of public employment services, especially for college graduates and rural workers. The Government indicates that, from 2014 to 2016, a total of 9,821,000 employers were registered with the public employment service, who employed a total of 167,184,000 registered jobseekers. Furthermore, there were 124,427,000 registered jobseekers, 51,949,000 people were offered vocational guidance and 11,852,000 people were offered entrepreneurship-related services. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the operation of public employment services and private employment agencies and the measures taken to improve the public employment services and ensure cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies.

Development of small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurship and new forms of employment for job creation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that small and micro-enterprises (SMEs) constitute a principal source of employment and that the promotion of SMEs is therefore one of the main objectives set out in the 2017 Opinions report. The Committee notes that the Government introduced a series of measures supporting the development of small and micro-enterprises, inter alia, through providing subsidies and other financial support, establishing an entrepreneurship model, and providing more advantageous tax policies to encourage business development. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2015, there were more than 20 million small and micro-enterprises and more than 54 million private businesses, with 80 per cent of urban jobs provided by SMEs. In 2016, there were 15,000 new enterprises being established in China every day, an increase of 3,000 new enterprises a day compared with 2015. The Committee notes that the Government also encourages the creation of jobs through promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship services, especially for returning migrant workers, and non-standard forms of employment. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to generate employment through the promotion of small and micro-enterprises, entrepreneurship and new forms of employment. It also requests the Government to provide information on the creation of new forms of employment, including information on whether these new or non-standard forms of employment are considered to fall within the informal economy.

Vocational education and training. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it is undertaking measures to strengthen vocational education and training services available to jobseekers. The Committee notes that, by the end of 2016, national human resources service agencies provided 280,000 training classes. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the impact of education and training measures implemented on employment opportunities and on consultations held with the social partners in the development of education and training programmes that meet the needs of the labour market. It also reiterates its request that the Government transmit information on the manner in which coordination is ensured between human resource development policies and active labour market measures developed and implemented.

Article 3. Consultation with the social partners. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the nature and extent of the involvement of the social partners in the formulation and implementation of active employment policy measures and programmes. It also requests the Government to indicate to what extent consultations have been held with the representatives of the persons affected by the measures taken, such as women, young people, persons with disabilities, rural and migrant workers.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in reply to its previous observation. The Government indicates that in 2013 the third plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided that systems and mechanisms that boost employment and business start-ups should be improved. Moreover, the Employment Promotion Plan for 2011–15, formulated in January 2012, lists the main policies and measures for the promotion of employment, including setting an overall plan for urban and rural employment of vulnerable groups, and developing human resources. The Government indicates that, during the 2011–13 period, newly created employment in urban areas reached nearly 38 million persons and the registered unemployment rate remained below 4.1 per cent. The Government also indicates that its constant search to improve employment policies and their implementation under the relevant legislation has resulted in the expansion of employment and the improvement of the employment structure. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide detailed information on the formulation and implementation of active employment policies and on their impact in terms of productive employment creation.

Vulnerable groups. The Committee notes that the number of graduates from higher education institutions increased from 6.6 million in 2011 to 7.27 million in 2014. It also notes the measures taken to promote the employment and entrepreneurship of young persons, including launching a nationwide employment promotion programme in 2013, introducing a new round of College Graduates Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan in May 2014, and providing targeted employment services. Moreover, the Government adopted the Special Regulation on the Labour Protection of Female Staff and Workers in 2012, which explicitly provides for protection against dismissal during pregnancy, maternity leave and nursing periods. With respect to migrant rural workers, the Committee notes the employment measures taken, which include improving an equal employment system in rural and urban areas, as well as strengthening employment services and supportive policies. The Committee further notes the measures for ethnic minorities, including providing targeted employment services and launching special recruitment sessions of state-owned enterprises. The Government indicates that re-employment of laid-off workers of state-owned enterprises has been addressed by the joint efforts of various sectors. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken to promote the employment of vulnerable groups, including updated statistical data on the employment situation and trends.

Labour market information. Strengthening employment services. The Committee notes that the Government has established a system for analysing job supply and demand information in more than 100 representative cities on a quarterly basis and it has also periodically published the results through the media so as to provide guidance for jobseekers and employers. The Government also reports on the measures taken to improve public employment services. The Committee notes that 19,000 private employment agencies are operating in the country and helped almost 50 million people find jobs in 2013. The Government indicates that it has launched campaigns to enhance the credibility of private employment agencies and promoted standardization of employment services. The Government also reports on inspections and monitoring of private employment agencies. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing information on the operation of public employment services and private employment agencies and the measures taken to improve the employment services and ensure cooperation between them.

Constructing a unified labour market. The Committee notes that local governments have expanded public employment services throughout urban and rural areas since 2011. In this regard, the number of service agencies at county level totalled more than 10,000 by the end of 2013 as well as that of service windows at township level totalled more than 40,000, which cover 97 per cent of townships. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures implemented to unify the labour market on the employment situation.

Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes that the Government introduced a series of measures supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including financial support policies in 2013. The Government has also introduced preferential tax policies in 2014 for SMEs. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures taken on employment generation through the promotion of SMEs.

Vocational education and training. The Committee notes that the public employment service has provided vocational training to jobseekers. It further notes that in 2013 private employment agencies have provided 60,000 training sessions. The Committee refers to its previous comments and once again invites the Government to provide information on the coordination between the human resource development policies and active labour market measures.

Article 3. Consultation with the social partners. The Committee notes that the 19th National Tripartite Conference of Labour Relations Coordination was convened in February 2014. It notes that the Government intends to take full advantage of the tripartite mechanism. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing information on the consultations with the social partners on the formulation and implementation of active employment policies, including consultations with the representatives of rural workers.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Formulation and implementation of an active employment policy. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in September 2011 in reply to its previous observation. It notes the 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development, which sets out employment strategies based on the development of the industry and service sectors. The Committee also notes the adoption of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012–15) which refers to, inter alia, the right to work and the right to basic living standards. The Government reports on the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Joint Meeting System on Employment to ensure policy coordination and help promote employment. Tripartite dialogue has been strengthened to cope with the global financial and economic crisis and seek common development goals. In response to the crisis, measures taken by the Government to promote employment include boosting domestic consumption, reducing social insurance contributions of enterprises, and offering subsidized targeted training opportunities to workers, jobseekers and unemployed persons. The Government also reports that the employment situation has been stabilized by creating 11.68 million new jobs for urban residents, re-employing 5.47 million laid-off workers, and employing 1.65 million persons from groups with employment difficulties. The Committee notes that the urban registered unemployment rate dropped to 4.0 per cent in 2011 (as per IMF data) from 4.1 per cent in 2010 and 4.3 per cent at the end of 2009. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information in its next report on the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy with the involvement of the social partners and on the impact of the measures taken to generate productive employment (Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention).

Impact of legislation on employment creation. The Government indicates that, in order to attain the objective of full employment, it implements active employment policies and incorporates such policies into legislation through the Employment Promotion Law. New legislation also provides for the adoption of measures aimed at increasing employment in the areas of tax, finance, social insurance, unemployment insurance and other matters. With respect to labour and social insurance policies, the Government indicates that it will take measures to gradually improve and implement flexible labour and social insurance policies that are compatible with flexible employment, including part-time employment, providing help and services to employees under flexible employment. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the impact and results achieved in terms of productive employment creation and the improvement of employment security for workers through legislation and related practice and implementation.

Vulnerable groups. The Government indicates that it attaches great importance to youth employment. The Committee notes that China is facing challenges with regard to the employment of graduates from institutions of higher learning and young migrant workers. The number of graduates has increased from 3.38 million in 2005 to 6.3 million in 2010. The Government indicates that it has formulated policies to promote employment for graduates, including plans to increase employment opportunities, a plan to guide business start-up and a plan of employment service and assistance. It reports that employment internships were provided to 1 million graduates with allowances paid by governments or employers, and that 450,000 graduates will benefit from the business start-up plan in the 2010–12 period. With respect to young migrant workers, the Government reports on measures easing their access to employment in urban areas, support measures to start up businesses, and vocational and technical training measures. It also reports on the measures to promote the employment of migrant workers based on the principle of fair treatment without discrimination. The Government indicates that it will improve management and overall planning of urban and rural areas, taking measures in accordance with the local conditions and providing guidance based on specific needs. Furthermore, the Committee notes the information on measures targeting the employment of women, including social security and vocational training subsidies, entrepreneurial trainings and measures to improve the maternity insurance system. The Government indicates that these measures have effectively promoted the employment of women. By the end of 2009, urban employers employed a total of 125.3 million persons, of which 46.785 million were women (37.2 per cent). It also provides data indicating that, from 2005 to 2009, public employment service agencies helped a total of 94.807 million persons obtain jobs, of which 44.514 million were women. With respect to persons with disabilities, the Government provides updated statistics indicating that 4.412 million persons with disabilities were employed in urban areas and 17.497 million in rural areas in 2010. The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government on measures to promote the employment of ethnic minorities. They include the formulation and improvement of employment policies, the increase of employment aid for college graduates of ethnic minorities facing difficulties in finding jobs, the development of special training activities and work programmes, and the increase in financial support. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the impact of the measures taken in order to promote productive employment for vulnerable categories of workers. Please also include updated data on the situation and trends of the active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment disaggregated by sector, age, sex, in particular for vulnerable groups such as young persons, women, persons with disabilities, rural workers and ethnic minorities.

Ensuring re-employment of laid-off workers by state-owned enterprises. The Government reports that the unemployment insurance system has basically covered most laid-off workers of state-owned enterprises. It further reports that in 2008, following the implementation of the Employment Promotion Law, the proactive employment policies continued, expanding from focusing on addressing the re-employment of laid-off and unemployed persons of state-owned enterprises to focusing on addressing the overall plan of employment of various groups in urban areas. The Government indicates that this has expanded the scope of objects, extended the validity period of policies and its increased efforts. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information in its next report on this matter.

Consistency and transparency of labour market information. The Government reports that it has established a city-based labour market information network. Over 80 per cent of public employment service agencies have set up information systems and in some locations these networks have extended to rural areas. The Government further indicates that a decision was taken in 2010 to establish an employment information monitoring platform to track the employment and unemployment status of jobseekers. It is estimated that approximately five years will be needed in order for the information network to cover the whole country. Furthermore, in 2011 the Government decided to set up a national public recruiting information service platform in order to increase consistency and transparency of the labour market and help jobseekers obtain timely and accurate labour market information. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the progress made in order to obtain accurate employment data and how it is being used to formulate and review employment policies (Article 2).

Constructing a unified labour market. The Government indicates that it has abolished policies and regulations that restrict the rural labour force to be employed in urban areas and transregionally. It further indicates that it is steadily and proactively pushing forward the reform of the household registration system. The Committee notes that conclusions are to be drawn from the experiences in the pilot efforts for coordinating urban and rural employment, and the scope of the pilot efforts is to be expanded. It further notes that in 2010 public employment service agencies at all levels nationwide provided gratuitous employment service to migrant workers, distributed over 35 million employment information cards, held nearly 20,000 special recruitment fairs for migrant workers, recommended jobs to more than 23 million persons, of which 12.5 million succeeded in obtaining employment, and arranged for over 30.9 million workers to obtain employment abroad. The Committee invites the Government to provide further information on the measures taken to unify employment management and the results achieved by the employment services in providing the same level of services in the country. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report an evaluation on how a balanced growth between economic development and employment has been achieved among the different regions of the country.

Strengthening employment services. The Government previously indicated that, in 2008, 99 per cent of the urban neighbourhoods and 80 per cent of towns had set up public employment services that provide assistance and job placement services. The Government reports in 2011 that 90 per cent of towns have set public employment services. Furthermore, the Committee notes that by the end of 2010, more than 10,000 private employment agencies operated in the country. The Committee invites the Government to provide detailed information on the operation of private employment agencies. It also invites the Government to continue to report on the achievements made in strengthening public employment services and regulating private employment agencies. Please also provide information on the measures taken to ensure cooperation between the public employment services and private employment agencies and measures that the Government is taking to encourage private employment services to improve the quality of their services in order for them to fulfil their employment promotion functions.

Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee noted in its previous observation that 82 cities had been selected to pilot a new initiative aimed at promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. In its report, the Government indicates that it has made efforts to create entrepreneurial cities in 85 cities. It further indicates that it is conducting an assessment of the work performance of these entrepreneurial cities, evaluating the work completed and the actual results in the cities undertaking the tasks through information reviews, data comparisons and survey questionnaires. The Government also reports on measures to support entrepreneurship and promote small and medium-sized enterprises. These measures include reducing administrative barriers, enhancing entrepreneurial training, improving financial services to entrepreneurs and granting preferential tax rates to entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes that the Government has set up a technology innovation fund which grants financial support to scientific and technological innovation projects. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the impact of measures promoting small and medium-sized enterprises with respect to employment creation.

Vocational training and education policies. The Committee invites the Government to include information in its next report on how the human resource development policies are coordinated with employment policies and on how the Government is strengthening the coordination between vocational institutions. It also invites the Government to report on how the local entities and social partners participate in the design and implementation of training policies and programmes.

Article 3. Participation of the social partners. The Government indicates in its report that more than 10,000 tripartite consultation organizations have been established at all levels across the country. It further reports that the 16th National Tripartite Conference of Labour Relations Coordination was convened in 2011. The conference adjusted the composition of the members of the State Tripartite Conference and its office; revised the Tripartite Conference System; reviewed the national harmonious industrial relations models of enterprises and industrial parks; and thematically studied the work to further put forward the implementation of special actions for the small business contract scheme, and the implementation of the collective contract scheme of the “Rainbow Programme”. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the consultations held with the social partners concerning the formulation and implementation of an active employment policy.

ILO technical cooperation. The Committee invites the Government to provide information in its next report on the results obtained through ILO technical assistance on the matters covered by the Convention and also on the results derived from the implementation of the Decent Work Country Programme (2006–10).

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

The Committee notes with interest the detailed information provided by the Government in September 2009, in reply to the tripartite discussion that took place in the Conference Committee in June 2009 and to its previous observation.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Formulation of an employment policy. The Committee notes that the Government pursues long-term strategies and policies for employment promotion, prioritizes employment expansion in the socio-economic development and endeavours to achieve a healthy interaction between economic development and employment generation. The Government has devoted its attention to developing labour-intensive and tertiary industries, private enterprise and enterprises with foreign investment, small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs), self-employment and flexible forms of employment. To ensure that job creation is placed at the centre of macroeconomic policies, the authorities have established interdepartmental employment working groups for policy coordination. A joint ministerial meeting system which was headed by a vice-premier brought together representatives of more than 20 ministries. Active employment policies are being adopted, focusing on tax reduction, microcredit and interest subsidized loans for business start-up and self‑employment; hiring incentives such as tax reduction and social insurance contribution subsidies for enterprises that recruited unemployed people; public job‑creation schemes for hard-to-place workers; and targeted employment assistance programmes to ensure every family had at least one member in employment. The Government acknowledges the long-term employment pressure that they suffer due to factors such as a large population, industrialization, urbanization, economic restructuring and the comparatively low quality of the labour force. The Government also states that, every year, China has 24,000,000 jobseekers in urban areas and 10,000,000 rural workers yet to be transferred, resulting in a degree of employment pressure not experienced by any other country. In its report, the Government indicated that, since 2003, over 10,000,000 jobs have been created and more than 8,000,000 workers have been transferred from rural areas each year. In 2008, registered urban unemployment stood at 4.2 per cent. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the impact of the measures mentioned to generate employment.

Measures taken in response to the global crisis. The Committee notes that the crisis has especially affected the exporting sector and SMEs and that migrants and new labour entrants have been among the most affected. In its General Survey of 2010 concerning employment instruments, the Committee noted that the State Council had adopted Notification No. 4 in 2009, which deals with employment issues under the economic situation, and other documents which deal with facing the current economic situation and stabilizing the labour relationship (General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 620). Among the measures taken to respond to the crisis, the Government launched stimulus packages that focus on infrastructure, public works, rural development investment and support for labour-intensive industries, particularly SMEs and the service sector. Enterprises have been allowed to postpone or reduce payment of social insurance contributions and have also received subsidies. The Committee notes that social dialogue is being promoted as a tool to respond to the crisis. The national tripartite mechanism jointly issued the guidance on how to face the current economic situation and to stabilize the labour relationship, to encourage and guide enterprises and workers in stabilizing job posts and avoiding lay-offs as much as possible, by taking, through consultations, measures such as wage adjustments and flexible working time. The Committee notes the importance of genuine tripartite consultations to confront and mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the participation of the social partners in the design and implementation of an active employment policy to overcome the negative effects of the crisis.

Impact of legislation on employment creation. The Government indicates that the implementation of the Labour Contract Law has brought an increase in employment (reaching 93 per cent in 2008), and a decrease in the tendency of signing short-term contracts, which has increased workers’ stability in employment. The implementation of the Labour Contract Law has also resulted in an increase in the number of people signing up for social security. The Government also states that the Employment Promotion Act has translated active employment policies into law, providing powerful legal support for achieving full employment. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the impact and results achieved in terms of productive employment creation and the improvement of employment security for workers through the implementation of the Labour Contract Law and the Employment Promotion Act.

Vulnerable groups. The Committee notes the different employment policies, plans and actions developed to tackle the consequences of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan (May 2008), including employment assistance and support policies to recover production and stabilize employment. According to the data provided by the Government, up to March 2009, the supporting localities had supplied information on over 1,170,000 job opportunities in the areas affected by the earthquake, helped 105,000 workers find employment through remote job-changing employment and direct employment by disaster‑relief reconstruction projects, assisted over 1,267,000 workers to find employment on the spot or nearby and 308,000 workers were transferred from Sichuan through organized labour migration. The Committee also notes that the Emergency-Start and Improve Your Business (E-SIYB) was launched to support SMEs recover production in the area and rural workers to create business in the cities of Chengdu, Deyang and Mianyang. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the regulations adopted to promote employment of people with disabilities. The Government further informs that it has formulated a series of accompanying policies and measures in order to further assist people with disabilities and promote their employment, including special services, improvement of employment services and training to help them start their own businesses and self-employment. The Government has also adopted specific measures for rural workers with disabilities to increase their employability. At the end of 2008, new employment had been found for 368,000 workers with disabilities in the urban areas and 17,171,000 rural workers with disabilities were engaged in active production. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the measures taken in order to promote productive employment for vulnerable categories of workers. Please also include in the next report data on the situation and trends of the active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment disaggregated by sector, age, gender, in particular for vulnerable groups such as young persons, women, people with disabilities, rural workers and ethnic minorities.

Ensuring re-employment of laid-off workers. With reference to the measures to enhance the employability of workers that had been laid off by state‑owned enterprises, the Government indicates that between 2003 and 2008, over 30,000,000 workers had realized work through different channels. The Government has designated occupational training institutions to carry out flexible and diversified trainings and has launched the Re-employment With Skills project, which expected to train 4,000,000 workers per year. Between 2006 and 2008, 68 per cent of the 18,880,000 workers who had participated in the re‑employment training had found work. The Committee notes that companies that hire older workers receive subsidies and that special attention is paid to older workers in the 40–50 age group. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information on the measures envisaged to improve the insertion in the labour market of the remaining workers affected by the lay-off by state-owned enterprises.

Consistency and transparency of labour market information. The Government reports that up to November 2008, seven labour surveys had been conducted. Nevertheless, the complexity of the labour market is not entirely reflected. The Committee notes that the Government is exploring ways to improve these survey methods to enhance the results afforded by them. The Committee noted, in the 2010 General Survey, that the China Enterprise Confederation, through its membership network, is gathering information regarding recruitment, management of human resources and vocational training from companies (General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 80). The Committee recalls the importance of compiling and analysing up-to-date statistical data and trends as a basis for deciding measures of employment policy. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information on the progress made in order to obtain accurate data and how it is being used to formulate and review employment policies.

Constructing a unified labour market. The Committee notes that the reform in the household registration system is steadily advancing and that the reform aims at achieving an integrated management of residence permits for the migrant population. The Government is relaxing the requirement for rural workers who already have stable employment and residence in cities and townships. Efforts are also being made to actively develop village and township enterprises and the county-level economies to increase job opportunities for the rural labour force. The Government informs that it intends to increase efforts to ensure a unified urban–rural labour market and implement the Employment Promotion Law in greater depth so as to accelerate the establishment of an employment policy that embodies equality between urban and rural areas. The Committee invites the Government to provide in its next report information on the impact of the measures that are being implemented in order to ensure that workers enjoy the same rights and obligations in a unified labour market. Please provide further information on the projects launched to unify employment management and the results achieved by the employment services in providing jobs for rural workers seeking employment in cities. The Committee hopes that the measures to be taken will succeed in unifying the labour market and invites the Government to include an evaluation on how a balanced growth between economic development and employment has been achieved among the different regions of the country.

Extension of social security and healthcare. The Government indicates that social security coverage is being expanded to cover more people, particularly rural migrant workers and workers in precarious employment, and that the establishment of a basic medical insurance system is being accelerated. The Government further reports that from 2009 to 2011, governments at all levels were expected to invest around US$120 billion in improving medical insurance and the medical service system. The Government expects that by 2010 every one of the country’s 1.3 billion citizens will enjoy full health insurance coverage. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report updated information on the matter and its impact on creating lasting employment.

Strengthening employment services. The Government indicates that in 2008, 99 per cent of the urban neighbourhoods and 80 per cent of towns have set up public employment services that provide assistance and job placement services and have helped 20 million people find work. The Committee recalls the key role that efficient employment services play to maintain full employment and to secure the needs to workers and enterprises (General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 202). In 2008, 10,000 private employment agencies operated in the country. The Committee notes that within the efforts to complete and improve the employment services that cover both rural and urban areas, pilot projects for the establishment of county- and town-level public employment service systems were initiated. In 2009, another programme was launched to provide internships for 3 million college graduates, and there were plans to help 1,000,000 long-term unemployed workers to find jobs and assist 8,000,000 migrant workers to transfer to the non‑agricultural sector. The Committee invites the Government to report on the achievements made in strengthening public employment services and regulating private employment agencies. Please also provide information on the measures taken to ensure cooperation between the public employment services and private employment agencies and measures that the Government is taking to encourage private employment services to improve the quality of their services in order for them to fulfil their employment promotion functions.

Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes the increase of channels to finance SMEs. The Government has also encouraged financial institutions to improve their services and increase their credit support for SMEs, including granting microcredits for individuals setting up their own business. In 2008, the Government issued the guidance on boosting the efforts to encourage start-ups for employment promotion and created a directorate to offer assistance to entrepreneurs which are starting up their businesses. The Committee notes that 82 cities have been selected to pilot a new initiative of Start-up Oriented City. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report more information regarding these pilot initiatives and information on the impact of these measures on employment creation. Please also inform on the measures taken in order to facilitate procedures to start-up business and on the efforts made to create an environment conducive to the creation, development and sustainability of SMEs.

Vocational training and education policies. The Government intends to provide non-agricultural occupational training to 40,000,000 rural workers through the Employment-With-Skill for the Rural Labour Force Programme. Between 2006 and 2008, 26,500,000 rural workers have received training. In addition, some localities have issued training coupons and opened training accounts in an effort to encourage rural workers to participate in trainings. The Committee also notes that the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security implemented a special occupational training programme in 2009–10 to provide “tailored training” to meet the specific job requirements of enterprises, so that rural workers may walk directly into the job. The Committee also notes that, to assist laid-off workers and the rural labour force re-enter the labour market, the Government designated occupational training institutions to carry out flexible and diversified trainings. The Committee also noted in the 2010 General Survey that trade unions at various levels had set up vocational training institutions (General Survey, op. cit., paragraph 176). The Committee invites the Government to include information on how the human resource development policies are coordinated with employment policies and on how the Government is strengthening the coordination between vocational institutions. It also welcomes information on how the local entities and social partners participate in the design and implementation of training policies and programmes.

ILO technical cooperation. The Committee notes that the ILO’s SIYB Programme completed activities in areas of product development, quality control and development of trainers. It also notes that the technical assistance provided under the UN Millennium Development Goal, with the ILO as the leading executive agency, expects to improve the content and implementation of the young peasant workers services policy framework. The Committee invites the Government to provide information on the results obtained through these projects and also on the results in terms of employment creation derived from the implementation of the Decent Work Country Programme (2006–10).

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report received in August 2007 including replies to its previous observation. It also notes the comments by the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC), appended to the Government’s report.

1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Formulation of an employment strategy. The Committee notes that by the end of 2006, 764 million people were employed in China, of which the urban employed accounted for 283 million people. In terms of the employment structure, 326 million people were in the primary sector of industry, 192 million in the secondary sector and 252 million in the tertiary sector, which is the result of a rapid transition of the rural labour force to non-agricultural industries. It also represents a steady increase of the proportion in the tertiary industry, demonstrating that the services industry has become a major source for the expansion of employment. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2006, registered unemployment in the urban areas accounted for 8.47 million people, representing an unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent, demonstrating a trend of decreasing unemployment and increased stability in employment. The Government indicates that some 21.48 million persons were affected by poverty at the end of 2006, representing a drop of 2.17 million persons over the previous year. The Government forecasts that in forthcoming years the number of the urban population in need of employment will remain over 24 million every year, while the present economic structure can only afford 12 million jobs, which demonstrates an imbalance between supply and demand for jobs. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information on how the goal of full employment guides macroeconomic policies. In this respect, the Committee would like to examine information on the manner in which other macroeconomic policies, such as monetary and fiscal policies, advance the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment. The Committee also requests information on how the measures taken to promote full and productive employment operate within a “framework of a coordinated economic and social policy”.

2. The Government’s report provides information on the adoption of the Labour Contract Law which standardizes practices in full-time employment and includes special provisions concerning contingent work and part-time work. The Government indicates that the law provides protection for workers’ rights and interests in different types of employment. The Government also provides details on the adoption, in August 2007, of the Employment Promotion Law which includes provisions addressing, amongst other things, the promotion of employment, protection of fair employment, government support to employment promotion, employment assistance to special groups, public employment services, strengthening of vocational education and training,  with a view to promoting coordinated economic and social development, expanding employment opportunities, promoting employment and realizing social harmony and stability. The Committee asks for information regarding the manner in which the texts enacted are contributing to the generation of productive employment and the improvement of employment security for workers.

3. Promotion of employment and vulnerable groups. The Government indicates that, by the end of 2006, the population in poverty in the rural areas was 21.48 million, representing a decrease of 2.17 million over the previous year and that the population in rural areas with a low level of income was 35.5 million, representing a drop of 5.17 million over the previous year. The Government has made efforts to promote employment of the rural labour force in their own localities, through readjusting the economic structure in agricultural and rural areas, developing non-agricultural production, boosting township industries and constructing small cities. It has adopted policies for equal employment, improved conditions for urban employment, and organized and guided an orderly mobility of the rural labour force, across the regions, through labour service coordination. The Committee invites the Government to continue to inform on the efforts made to further reduce the gaps between the employment situation of urban and rural workers. It also invites the Government to include information in its next report regarding the measures taken to ensure economic recovery with employment creation in those areas affected by the earthquake in Sichuan Province (May 2008).

4. According to the statistics provided by the Government in its report, of the 82.96 million persons with disabilities, 22.66 million have been in employment. The Committee notes that the Regulations concerning the Employment of People with Disabilities establish that authorities at and above the county level should include, in their plan for economic and social development, the issue of employment for persons with disabilities and formulate preferential policies and adopt practical measures to create conditions for employment of persons with disabilities. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information on the measures adopted to open up channels for employment for persons with disabilities and, in particular, to support persons with disabilities in rural areas.

5. Consistency and transparency of labour market information. The Committee notes that the Government indicates progress in improving the labour market information system, specifically by: (a) collecting, processing and analysing information concerning supply and demand in labour markets in over 100 cities and publicizing the results; (b) organizing and conducting investigations of personnel costs in enterprises and the salary scale for different professions in the whole country; and (c) continuing the survey of the labour force. The Committee wishes to receive information on the improvements made to the labour force survey and progress in the enhancement of the labour market information system, with an indication of the manner in which the data has been used to formulate and review employment policies.

6. Unifying the labour market. The Committee notes that, according to data available to the ILO, internal migrant workers account for 16 per cent of national GDP growth over the last 20 years and represent 40 per cent of the urban workforce. Yet today, 90 million internal migrant workers cannot obtain an urban residence and work permit (hukou), giving them access to better jobs, health care and education. The Committee also notes that in the past few years, the Government has taken important steps, such as ensuring a guaranteed minimum wage and the enforcement of a labour contract system, as well as improving access to employment services and job training. The Committee also notes that in some localities the disparity between urban and rural residents has been removed. In its report, the Government indicates that it is adopting various measures to further improve the present permit system. Efforts have been made to fully guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of internal migrant workers in employment, housing, medical care and education so as to form a nationally unified labour market. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information on the measures adopted to improve the residence and work permit system in order to ensure labour market integration and a unified labour market.

7. The Committee notes that the Government is implementing the public budget and a sunshine budgetary policy to increase budgetary allocations for social insurance. The competent authorities in the various localities have also readjusted their expenditure structure to support social insurance. The Committee further notes the information regarding the intensified guidance provided to social insurance agencies at various levels, and the promotion of social insurance coverage through publicity and law enforcement inspections in the workplace. The Government reports that, by the end of May 2007, a total of 191.93 million persons participated in the old-age insurance; 163.45 million in medical insurance; 107.46 million in work injury insurance; and 67.72 million in child birth insurance, representing an increase over the situation at the end of 2006 of 2.27 million persons, 6.13 million, 4.78 million and 2.14 million people, respectively. A total of 25.15 million and 29.16 million migrant workers have participated, respectively, in the medical insurance and work injury insurance, with a respective increase of 1.49 million and 3.79 million over that at the end of 2006. The Committee asks the Government to include information in its next report on the measures it is taking to encourage employers and employees to contribute to social insurance schemes, considering the proportion of self‑employed and informal employees in the urban areas. It also requests information on how the social security system considers the challenges of flexible employment such as low wages and unstable income.

8. Reinforcing public employment services. The Committee notes that by the end of 2006, a total of 37,450 employment service agencies were established. In 2006, these employment agencies recruited 49.51 million people for various enterprises and provided job recommendations and employment guidance to 47.36 million people who were registered for jobs, of whom 24.93 million were successfully recommended to jobs. The Committee reiterates its request to receive information describing the measures taken to ensure cooperation between the public employment service system and private employment agencies. It also wishes to receive information regarding the current employment registration system in rural areas and proactive measures oriented to help the rural unemployed.

9. Measures to promote the re-employment of laid-off workers. The Government reports on the difficulties in solving problems left by the economic restructuring. Between 2003 and 2006, a total of 20 million workers that were laid off from state-owned enterprises and collectively owned enterprises were re‑employed. Technical training programmes which facilitate the self-employment of such laid-off workers have been defined and developed in line with the specific conditions in the localities. The Committee asks the Government to continue to supply information on the measures taken to improve the technical skills of laid-off workers in order to enhance their employability. It also requests information on the measures it envisages to improve the stability of workers and to reduce employment insecurity in the labour market.

10. Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes that over the last years most job creation has come from the non-state sector, especially small business, self-employment and the informal sector. In 2005, the Government issued “Views on Encouraging, Supporting, and Guiding Development of Small Business and the Non-State Economy”. The Government reports that, through the implementation of these guidelines, all regions and government departments will promote private and self-employment and the development of the non-state economy, thus stimulating job creation to the fullest and, in particular, generating opportunities for low-income groups. The Committee wishes to receive information on the impact of the measures adopted to minimize the obstacles encountered by small and medium-sized enterprises, for example in obtaining credit to start up businesses. Please also continue to provide information on the manner in which employment creation is promoted through small and medium-sized enterprises.

11. Vocational training and education. The Committee notes that the information provided by the Government indicates that it has developed various types of vocational training initiatives and intensified efforts to foster highly skilled people in employment, and in close relation to the needs of the market and of enterprises. By the end of 2006, there were a total of 2,880 technical schools, 3,212 employment training centres and 21,462 private training institutions, which provided training to 22.43 million people. The Committee asks the Government to supply information on the measures taken to ensure that vocational training and educational policies are oriented to cover the demands of the labour market. Please also provide information on the measures taken to increase the viability of rural workers in the labour market through formal and on-the-job training.

12. Article 3. Consultation of representatives of the persons affected. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that the ACFTU and the CEC have actively participated in the formulation of laws and regulations relating to the Labour Contract Law and the Law on Employment Promotion. The Government reports that trade unions at various levels have set up vocational training and job agencies, and popularized the re‑employment model of microcredit loans, entrepreneurship training and the re‑employment nurturing base. The Committee also notes the CEC’s statement indicating that, in promoting corporate social responsibilities among the enterprises, enterprises have been called upon to create more employment opportunities, especially jobs suitable for young people. The Committee wishes to continue to receive information regarding consultations to secure the full cooperation of representatives of the social partners in the formulation and implementation of employment policies. Please also indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that representatives of the rural sector and the informal economy are also included in the consultations required by the Convention.

13. Part V of the report form. ILO technical cooperation. The Committee notes that the ILO, in collaboration with national partners, is implementing a project and conducting activities aimed at enhancing the capacities of government, employers’ and workers’ organizations, associations of persons with disabilities and NGOs, to enable them to promote legislation relating to the employment of persons with disabilities, as well as to improving the working environment so as to increase employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in China. The Committee also notes that the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) China Programme, Phase III, was implemented jointly by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the ILO, with financial inputs from the Department for International Development (DFID, United Kingdom), to facilitate the socio‑economic integration of particularly vulnerable categories of persons among the local migrant community by enabling them to start up and run their own small social businesses, covering western cities and provinces in China. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results that have been achieved, in terms of job creation and the integration of jobseekers in the labour market, as a consequence of the advice and technical assistance from the ILO and other international donors.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

1. In reply to the previous comments from 2004, the Committee notes the detailed information provided in the Government’s report for the period ending May 2005. It also notes the observations supplied by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and forwarded by the Office to the Government in October 2005. The Government’s reply to the ICFTU’s comments was received by the Office in January 2006. The Committee has benefited from an extensive technical analysis from the ILO Subregional Office in Bangkok, which completed and updated the already comprehensive information contained in the Government’s reports and in the comments of the ICFTU. In this respect, the Committee notes the technical assistance that is being provided by the ILO on integrated employment strategies, job creation through enterprise development, enhanced employability for productivity and competitiveness, productive employment for local communities, equal opportunities in employment and decent and productive work for young people. The Committee wishes to be provided with further information on certain specific issues and asks the Government to provide in its next report further detailed information regarding the following points.

2. Formulation of an employment strategy. The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, China will continue to face the enormous challenge of placing some 10 million new entrants annually in employment and finding new jobs for 14 million laid-off workers. Economic growth estimated at 8‑9 per cent should create a little over 8 million new jobs, leaving a gap of 13‑14 million jobseekers without employment. Over 2 million laid-off workers are still in or have left re-employment service centres. Another 3.6 million will be laid off over the next three years. An additional 3 million workers from secondary operations will need to be placed in employment. Others who have been re‑employed are only in temporary jobs. An added challenge is to find suitable employment for college graduates and demobilized soldiers. Workers in temporary jobs and migrants from rural areas will also be looking for employment. The Committee notes that the Government has responded to the employment challenge by introducing a comprehensive set of new legislation and policy measures, including pilot programmes implemented in different provinces and cities to test new approaches to creating jobs and enhancing employability. The Committee notes that the fourth China Human Development Report, published in October 2005, highlighted the need to expand employment opportunities for the poor as the most effective way of reducing poverty: “the principle of ‘employment first’ should guide industrial policy, macroeconomic policy and regulatory policy”. In this regard, the Committee emphasizes the need for measures to ensure that employment, as a key element of poverty reduction, is at the heart of macroeconomic and social policies. It would appreciate being provided with further information on the extent to which economic growth leads to an improved labour market and a reduction in poverty levels. It would also appreciate receiving information on how the programmes in place have contributed to employment promotion within a “framework of a coordinated economic and social policy” (Article 2, paragraph (a), of the Convention).

3. Freedom of choice of employment. The Committee welcomes the ratification of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and hopes that its implementation will strengthen efforts to ensure freedom of choice of employment and that each worker will have the fullest possible opportunity to qualify for and to use his/her skills, in the conditions set out in Article 1, paragraph 2(c) of Convention No. 122. It requests the Government to provide such information, with an indication of the measures adopted to ensure that the progress achieved is translated into an increase in the participation rate of women and ethnic minorities.

4. Consistency and transparency of labour market information. The Committee notes the statistical data provided by the Government in its report and the concerns expressed by the ICFTU regarding labour market information. The Government reports improvements in the collection and dissemination of statistical data, specifically the labour force survey that has been set up by the State Council, which will collect statistics for both urban and rural areas. The Committee also notes that efforts will be made to improve unemployment statistics so as to provide a viable basis for future employment policies and employment administration and services. The Committee asks the Government to provide an evaluation of the progress made in improving the labour market information system, with an indication of the manner in which the data have been used to determine and review employment policy measures (Article 2).

5. Unifying the labour market. The Committee notes that reforms are still required to the household registration system (Hukou System), the social welfare system and government employment policies. The Committee understands that, of the current urban population of 540 million, 160 million do not hold an urban Hukou, which impedes their ability to obtain productive employment. The Hukou System has also created barriers to the mobility of workers from rural to urban areas and therefore to a unified labour market. The Committee would appreciate receiving information on the ongoing process of dismantling of the household registration system (Hukou) in order to ensure labour market integration and a unified labour market.

6. The Committee recalls from its previous comments that the White Paper published in April 2004 included within the objectives of the Government’s policies improving the social security system. It notes that improvements include expanding its coverage and greater financial support. The Committee asks the Government to report in more detail on the progress achieved in extending adequate social protection to the entire population. The Committee understands that, among the laws currently under consideration are the Labour Contract Law and the Employment Promotion Law. In the Committee’s view, measures to promote full employment permit the Government to create an environment that is conducive to the generation of productive and lasting employment in conditions that are socially adequate for all concerned. It asks the Government to report on the manner in which the new legislative texts are contributing to the generation of productive employment and the improvement of employment security for workers.

7. Reinforcing public employment services. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes the progress made in the development of public employment services. At the end of 2004, there were 34,000 employment agencies, among which 23,000 were public agencies which provided annual services to about 19 million people with a 52 per cent rate of successful placements. The Committee also notes the efforts to improve employment services to migrant workers with the “Spring Breeze Operation” to provide free assistance to migrants returning from the countryside to find work in the cities. The Committee requests the Government to continue to report on measures taken by the public employment services to promote employment at each territorial division (province, prefecture, county and township levels). Please describe the measures taken or envisaged to ensure cooperation between the public employment service system and private employment agencies.

8. Measures to promote the re-employment of laid-off workers. The Committee notes that since 1998 the Government has provided financial assistance and additional support to workers that have been laid off from state-owned enterprises. In 2004, 5.3 million laid-off workers participated in re‑employment training, with a 71 per cent success rate in jobseeking. In 2004, the Plan for Re-employment Training was launched to promote the re-employment of laid-off workers. The Committee further notes the measures implemented in order to waive or reduce taxes encouraging enterprises to hire laid-off workers, and guaranteeing small loans to help workers to create self-employment and individually owned businesses. The Committee asks the Government to report on the results achieved through these measures to give greater support and assistance to laid-off workers for their re-employment. The Committee hopes the Government will be able to provide the results disaggregated by sex and age.

9. Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes that the project “Dragon Chain” launched in 2003 has offered a range of business development services to small businesses, including training for business creation, project development, testing and guidance, credit services, follow-up and assistance. It further notes that the implementation of the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) project has played a positive role in business creation and in promoting employment and re-employment. The Committee asks the Government to continue to report on the promotion of an enterprise culture and on the manner in which employment creation is promoted through small and medium-sized enterprises. The Government may also deem it useful to consult the provisions of the Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, 1998 (No. 189).

10. Vocational training and education. The Committee notes that the Government has increased vocational education and training efforts for the labour force in order to address the problem of the skills mismatch and to meet the demands of technology and modernization, relying on vocational training institutions and mobilizing enterprises and employers’ organizations. The Committee understands that a Conference on Vocational Education was held in November 2005 which set targets and general policy measures for vocational training and education during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, with the number of skilled technical workers expected to reach 110 million. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the results achieved by the measures taken to coordinate education and training policies with prospective employment opportunities. It draws the Government’s attention to the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142), and the human resources development, education, training and lifelong learning policies contained in Recommendation No. 195 of 2004.

11. Consultation of representatives of the persons affected. The Committee notes the ICFTU’s concerns regarding the participation of all those affected by employment policy measures. It recalls the importance of involving in consultations the representatives of the persons affected by the employment policies adopted by the Government, with the aim of taking fully into account their experience and views. The Committee reiterates its interest in receiving detailed information on the frequency and results of the consultations to secure the full cooperation of representatives of the social partners, including representatives of the rural sector and of the informal economy in the formulation and implementation of employment policies (Article 3). It would be grateful if the Government’s next report also included details of the way in which the Government and the social partners have addressed the matters noted in this observation.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

With reference to its observation, the Committee requests the Government, in its next report, to continue to submit detailed information also on the following points.

1. General and sectoral economic policies. The Committee notes the priority given by the Government to the development of the tertiary sector, favoured due to its capacity for creating employment. It notes that efforts are being deployed to develop high technology enterprises, but also to highly labour-intensive enterprises. Please submit information on the expected or actual contribution different types of enterprises may have had for the creation of jobs. Please submit information on measures taken in order to favour a balanced rural development, both with respect to agricultural and non-agricultural activities.

2. Collection and use of statistics on employment. The Committee notes that analyses of the supply and demand of labour are henceforth drawn up and published in most large or medium-sized towns in the country and that they are used, in particular, for the development of employment and training programmes. Please continue to submit information on the collection and use of this information, and to describe the type of data collected.

3. Reinforcing public employment services. The Committee notes that measures have been taken to reinforce not only the public employment service, but also to encourage the development of other public or private employment agencies. Please continue to submit information on the type and scope of activities of the employment service. Please include information on measures taken or envisaged to ensure cooperation between employment services in the different regions of the country. Please describe the measures taken or envisaged to ensure cooperation between the public employment service system and private employment agencies.

4. Measures to favour re-employment of laid-off workers. The Committee notes all the incentives instituted to boost employment of laid-off workers, in particular of those workers who may have particular difficulties in finding new employment. Please submit any evaluation of results achieved through these measures. Please also continue to submit information on the volume of the reintegration training activities that are carried out for the benefit of these workers as well as the results achieved.

5. Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes the various measures undertaken for the promotion of small and medium sized enterprises, including the grant of tax advantages or credit guarantees, as well as by the development of an infrastructure of relevant services. Please submit information on the results these measures have yielded in terms of sustainable jobs created.

Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

1. The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending May 2003 and the detailed information it contains in reply to the Committee’s previous request. The Government details in its report the various measures taken in order to tackle employment conditions characterized by increasing unemployment, in particular, in the urban areas; significant movements of the active population which have been held back too long by the planned economy; and an excess of unskilled labour coinciding with a scarcity of skilled labour. In June 2003, the country recorded almost 8 million registered unemployed in the urban areas, of which 3.5 million were workers laid off from state enterprises. The total number of unemployed was estimated at 24 million, and the yearly new arrivals in the urban labour markets at 10 million. A continued annual level of economic growth of 7 per cent should allow for the creation of approximately 10 million new jobs per year, but the supply of labour is expected to continue to exceed the demand for years to come.

2. Declaration of an employment policy. The Committee notes with interest the holding of the China Employment Forum in Beijing in April 2004. Organized jointly between the ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and with the active participation of the China Confederation of Enterprises and the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the Forum adopted a Common Understanding on elements of an Employment Agenda for China, which places the promotion of decent employment at the centre of economic and social policies in the country.

3. Furthermore, the Committee is aware of the publication, in April 2004, of a White Paper on the employment situation and policies in China. The active employment policy which is detailed therein, focuses on developing the economy and adjusting the structure for an active creation of job opportunities; improving the public employment service system and developing the labour market; getting laid-off persons back into the workforce; as well as improving the social security system and maintaining harmonious and stable labour relations. The focus is on improving the quality of the workforce through the promotion of various kinds of educational and training programmes, the establishment of a vocational training system, and the implementation of a vocational qualification certificate system. One chapter is devoted to the employment of the rural workforce and its orderly reassignment, while another addresses the question of employment of women and guaranteeing women’s right to equal employment, promoting youth employment and helping the disabled to find employment.

4. In the opinion of the Committee, these initiatives can but favour the pursuit of the major goal of full, productive and freely chosen employment, within a framework of a coordinated economic and social policy, and in consultation with representatives of persons affected, in accordance with the Convention. It invites the Government to continue to submit detailed information on progress achieved in this respect in order to meet the major challenge that the employment situation in the country represents. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to include information on how representatives of all persons affected by the measures to be taken are consulted concerning employment policies, pursuant to Article 3 of the Convention. It recalls that, in view of their share of the active population, representatives of persons employed in the rural sector and in the informal economy should be involved in these consultations.

5. ILO technical cooperation. The Committee notes the indications provided by the Government in its report on the pilot project for promoting urban employment in the cities of Baotou, Jilin and Zhangjiakou, as well as on the activities of training the trainers in the context of the "Start your business" (SYB) programme of the ILO. It requests the Government to continue to submit information on the technical cooperation or advisory activities of the ILO concerning employment promotion and actions taken as a result thereof (Part V of the report form).

6. A request concerning certain other issues related to employment policy has been addressed directly to the Government.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

1. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2002 which contains information pertaining to the matters raised in the 2000 direct request. The Committee also notes the progress made under the Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2001 between the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of China and the Office in order to promote, inter alia, strong social policies, justice and democracy in the field of employment. The China Employment Forum has been convened for April 2003 to provide an opportunity to enlarge on the dimensions of a sound employment policy and to consider implementation issues. The Committee requests the Government to include in its next report information on the action taken as a result of the advice received from the Office in designing and implementing an active employment policy within the meaning of the Convention (Part V of the report form).

2. Article 1, paragraph 2(a) and (b), of the Convention. The Government states in its report that as a means of continuing to develop the labour market and to promote vocational training, it has improved the professional skills and quality of the labour force. To further its objective of achieving an adequate level of employment, the Government is paying particular attention to the re-employment of workers laid off by state-owned enterprises and the unemployed. The Committee notes that the registered urban unemployment rate had increased to 3.5 per cent (6 million persons) at the end of 2000 and is expected to reach about 5 per cent within the next five years. In addition, another 3.9 per cent of the urban labour force (6.57 million workers) were laid off from state-owned enterprises and are seeking re-employment. Estimated underemployment in rural areas was 150 million workers, many of whom are migrating to urban areas in search of employment, often in the informal economy. Nevertheless, in 2001, China’s GDP rose by 7.1 per cent compared to 2000 (and 7.3 per cent in the first half of 2002). The Committee asks the Government in its next report to describe how the employment policy objectives are related to other economic and social objectives. Please supply information on measures taken to create employment by the promotion of entrepreneurship of small and medium-sized enterprises, including township and village enterprises.

3. The Government emphasizes in its report that a series of major advances were made to develop a standardized, scientifically based and modernized labour market, mainly involving networking, service functions, market management and operational mechanisms. At the end of 2001, information networks and labour market monitoring centres had been established in 17 provincial departments, analytical reports on labour market information related to labour supply and needs were being issued to the public on a regular basis in 91 cities and pricing information to guide wage-setting was being publicized in 87 cities. Some 26,793 employment agencies have provided employment services to 18 million persons. The Committee would appreciate further information on the progress made in improving the labour market information system and the use of employment services in order to ensure the better matching of labour supply and demand. The Committee asks the Government in this connection to include information on the measures taken  to coordinate education and training policies with prospective employment opportunities. Please also provide information on the results of the programmes carried out to facilitate re-employment, for instance, under the initiative to train "tens of millions in three years".

4. The Government indicates in its report that a pilot project to promote urban employment in three cities (Baotou, Jilin and Zhangjiakou) was set up to explore ways of encouraging laid-off workers to set up their own businesses by providing training in business initiation and financial support in the form of small loans. Please continue to provide information on the impact of the initiatives taken to support job creation by private entrepreneurship. The Government may deem it useful to refer to the provisions of the Job Creation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Recommendation, adopted by the Conference in June 1998.

5. Article 5, paragraph 2(c). The Government indicates in its report that activities to highlight achievements by women were carried out in collaboration with women’s associations, such as the All-China Women’s Federation, all of which were helpful in ensuring equality and avoiding discrimination in employment. The Committee refers to paragraph 1 of this direct request and asks the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken to ensure that race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin are not permitted bases for discrimination in counselling people on employment options, in providing education and training, or in hiring practices. It also requests that the Government include in the next report information such as statistics on lay-offs and subsequent placement in freely chosen and productive jobs of persons falling within these categories.

6. Article 2. The Committee asks the Government to continue to supply information on the situation, level and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment in China both in the aggregate and as they affect other vulnerable categories of workers such as young persons, older workers, rural workers and displaced state-owned enterprise workers. Please indicate how the labour market data collected have been used as a basis for deciding and reviewing measures of employment policy within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy.

7. Article 3. The Government indicates in its report that the process of developing and implementing employment policies has always been carried out in consultation with representatives of the groups concerned by the policy measures, including trade unions and employers’ associations. The Committee highlights that this important provision of the Convention requires the involvement in consultations of Government authorities and of representatives of the persons affected by the employment policy measures to be taken. The aim of the consultations is to take fully into account their experience and views and secure their full cooperation in formulating and implementing employment policies. Representatives of the persons affected must include representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations and also representatives of sectors of the economically active population, such as the rural and informal sectors. In view of the impact of the economic and social measures being taken by the Government on workers displaced from the rural sector and from state-owned enterprises, the Committee would appreciate receiving information on any consultations envisaged in those sectors on the matters covered by the Convention in the next report.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

1.  The Committee notes the detailed information contained in the Government’s first and second reports. It notes with interest the extensive technical cooperation the Government has undertaken with the ILO, which demonstrates the high level of commitment the Government has given to employment promotion.

2.  Article 1, paragraph 2(a) and (b), of the Convention.  The Committee notes the substantial progress made in developing the economy and reducing poverty within a short period of time. The Government states that growth in employment has averaged 2.8 per cent per year, with growth in urban areas averaging 4 per cent. Employment was 56.3 per cent in 1997, and 56 per cent in 1998. Urban unemployment was 2.85 per cent in 1997, and 2.76 per cent in 1998.

3.  The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the outcome of the pilot projects in 100 cities to modernize the labour market, as well as the outcomes of efforts mentioned in the Government’s report to: establish re-employment centres for displaced state-owned enterprise (SOE) workers, develop SMEs, promote self-employment, undertake labour intensive public works, and make the employment service more proactive. The Committee also would appreciate continuing to receive information on progress made in the following areas: promoting more effectively labour intensive growth; ensuring that skills are appropriate for labour demand; extending social protections; supporting SMEs; removing policies which distort incentives, including tax and urban development policies; strengthening public employment services, especially for displaced workers; and improving vocational guidance.

4.  Concerning education and vocational training, the Committee notes that the Government has established minimum training standards for vocational training centres and other institutions which provide training. The Government also reports that it has created conglomerate training centres which are intended to integrate training and employment placement services. It also is exploring ways to use telecommunications to provide training to more participants and has established numerous training programmes targeted at particular groups. Please continue to provide information on the outcome of these efforts, and on training provided to displaced workers from the private sector. Please also provide information on any follow-up taken to the various ILO projects and workshops pertaining to improving links between training and employment.

5.  Article 1, paragraph 2(c).  The Committee notes the numerous programmes aimed at ensuring that women and people with disabilities are fully integrated into the labour market. Please provide further information on measures taken to ensure that race, colour, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin are not permitted bases for discrimination in counselling people on employment options, providing education and training, or in hiring practices, including statistics on the lay-offs and subsequent placement in new jobs of persons falling within these categories.

6.  Article 2.  The Committee notes the Government’s statement that employment policies are developed in the framework of coordinated economic and social policies and re-examined and readjusted regularly, resulting in new policies and programmes on a periodic basis. The Government also periodically holds regional and national conferences on employment. There is a national bureau of statistics and the ten-year census includes employment issues (a census is currently in process). In addition, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security collects statistics. Policies and programmes are evaluated on the basis of this information. Please continue to provide information on the outcome of these periodic reviews. Please also provide further information on the action taken as a result of the recent ILO review of labour statistics methodologies and statistical analysis.

7.  Article 3.  The Committee notes that through the National People’s Congress and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security the Government consults with workers’ and employers’ organizations, and with representatives of rural area workers. Please continue to supply information on the frequency and outcome of consultations, in particular consultations held with representatives of rural and informal sector workers.