China unveils measures to shore up job market

BEIJING - China's State Council rolled out four measures in a circular on Friday, demanding governments at various levels to facilitate entrepreneurship and innovation and create more jobs.

The circular - Guidelines over doing work on employment and entrepreneurship under new situation - admitted pressure in creating more jobs and said it is necessary to implement more pro-active employment policies.

The government should refine policies and continue encouraging mass entrepreneurship and startups, so as to foster a new engine of economic growth, the circular said.

China is faced with a complex and arduous task of ensuring employment in 2015 against the backdrop of an economic slowdown.

The Chinese government has pledged to create more than 10 million urban jobs and ensured that the registered urban unemployment rate does not rise above 4.5 percent in 2015, according to a government work report unveiled in March.

The four measures include implementing an employment-first policy requiring governments at all levels to prioritize job creation, boosting employment by encouraging entrepreneurship and startups, supporting university and college graduates in finding jobs or starting businesses, and providing better government and training services.

The number of new jobs in urban areas and the surveyed urban unemployment rate will be added to the list of important macro-economic indicators, said the guidelines.

It also demanded all qualified enterprises nationwide be included in a campaign launched by the nation's unemployment insurance to encourage employers to maintain their workforce.

China created 3.2 million new jobs in urban areas in the first quarter this year, and an official survey showed that its urban surveyed unemployment rate was "stable" at around 5.1 percent, unchanged from the rate in 2014.

In order to encourage entrepreneurship and startups, governments at all levels were called on to speed up related reforms and refine policies to ensure fair treatment, favorable financial and tax conditions, and basic social safety benefits for startups.

The government supports entrepreneurship guaranteed loans, and a previous government-backed program for small guaranteed loans will be merged into entrepreneurship guaranteed loans, it said.

The maximum sum will be 100,000 yuan ($16,300) for each entrepreneurship guaranteed loan, and government fiscal revenues will help cover some interest, it said.