Full text: Report on China's economic, social development plan

7. We will work hard to ensure and improve the people's wellbeing, and establish a sound system of basic public services and sound social administration mechanisms.

1) We will steadfastly implement a more proactive employment policy. We will give high priority to promoting employment in economic and social development, energetically develop labor-intensive industries, small and micro enterprises, modern services and household services, and encourage entrepreneurship and independent job seeking. We will put great effort into our work concerning the employment of college and university graduates, the rural migrant labor force, urban residents who have difficulty finding jobs, and demobilized military personnel. We will continue to strengthen the development of community-level service facilities for employment and social security, establish a sound, unified, standardized and flexible human resources market, and strengthen vocational training. We will improve the mechanism for settling labor disputes.

2) We will rationally adjust income distribution. We will conduct research and formulate a plan to reform income distribution, adjust the pattern of national income distribution, and narrow the income gap. We will put in place a sound mechanism of regular pay increases for enterprise employees, steadily promote collective bargaining for wages, gradually increase the minimum wage, and resolutely prevent the problem of wage arrears, especially those of rural migrant workers. We will carry out the reform of the personal income tax system in a step-by-step manner, raise the income tax threshold on salaries by an appropriate amount, reduce the tax burden on low- and middle-income groups, and improve the policy of dual regulations on total payroll and average salary levels in high-income industries. We will rectify and standardize the pattern of income distribution.

3) We will genuinely do our social security work well. We will implement the methods for transferring pension accounts and medical insurance accounts, and turn over the overall management of social insurance accounts to higher-level authorities. We will improve the mechanism of regular adjustments in basic pensions for enterprise retirees and subsistence allowances for urban and rural residents. We will actively advance the reform of pension insurance system for government agencies and institutions, and expand trials of the new type of pension insurance for rural residents. In 2011, the numbers of urban participants in pension, medical, unemployment and workers' compensation insurance will reach 8.27 million, 7.94 million, 1.24 million and 8.27 million, respectively. We will accelerate the development of social assistance and social welfare programs, and strengthen the development of facilities for caring for orphans, rehabilitating people with disabilities and elderly services. In 2011, the number of beds for elderly care per 1,000 old people will reach 20, up 9.9%, and the number of service facilities for people with disabilities will be 3,230, up 8.6%.

4) We will speed up the development of the system for ensuring adequate housing. We will intensify the construction of low-income housing; carry out the development of public rental housing and other low-income housing projects on a large scale; accelerate the renovation of run-down areas in cities, industrial and mining areas, forest regions and land reclamation zones; set up a mechanism for steady governmental investment in low-income housing and a mechanism for guaranteeing the repayment of nongovernmental capital in this area; give priority to low-income housing projects when making land supply and construction plans; and encourage nongovernmental capital to participate in the construction and operation of public rental housing. We will continue to increase the effective supply of commodity housing, increase the proportion of low- and medium-priced housing of modest size, and standardize and develop the rental housing market. We will further implement and improve policies for regulating the housing market, curb housing demand for speculation and investment purposes, and prevent housing prices from rising too quickly. We will promptly improve our housing systems and policy framework so they better suit our national conditions, and establish a permanent mechanism for effectively adjusting housing supply and demand.

5) We will strengthen the development of key areas in education. We will fully implement the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Education Reform and Development. We will accelerate the transformation of needy primary and secondary schools in rural areas, and continue to carry out the project to renovate rural junior secondary school buildings in the central and western regions, the nationwide program for safe primary and secondary school buildings as well as the improvement of vocational education infrastructure. We will energetically develop preschool education in rural areas, give attention to special education, improve senior secondary education and vocational education, and support the development of ethnic colleges and bilingual education in ethnic minority areas. We will carry out the construction of dormitories for teachers at rural schools in remote areas and areas with harsh conditions. We will improve the quality of higher education, and speed up the development of first-class universities and academic disciplines. We will solve the problem of schooling for children of families with financial difficulties. In 2011, the gross enrollment ratio in secondary education is expected to reach 84%, and plans call for enrolling 6.75 million undergraduate students and 560,000 graduate students in regular institutions of higher learning.

6) We will promote the development of medical and health care programs. We will strengthen the development of the medical and health service system with the focus on the primary level, carry out the project for setting up bases to train general practitioners, and develop the system of health supervision, the system of emergency medical services in rural areas and the system for preventing and treating mental health problems. We will strengthen work concerning maternity and child health, and continue the trials of conducting free cervical cancer and breast cancer screenings for women and providing necessary medical treatment to those suffering from these diseases. We will increase investment in medical infrastructure in rural areas, especially in remote areas in the central and western regions. In 2011, per capita fund for basic public health services will be increased from 15 yuan to 25 yuan, and annual per capita government subsidies on the new rural cooperative medical care system and on basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents will be raised from 120 yuan to 200 yuan. We will work hard to raise the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people to 3.42, up 5.6%. We will improve the population and family planning service system.

7) We will vigorously develop cultural programs and cultural industries. We will accelerate the establishment of a public cultural service system covering both urban and rural areas. We will actively advance cultural projects that benefit the people, and accelerate the construction of key cultural facilities. We will promote the flourishing of philosophy and the social sciences, and carry out major cultural projects and product innovation in radio, film and television, the press and publishing, and other areas. We will standardize and develop bases for the cultural industry; strengthen the protection of cultural and natural heritage sites; and open more art galleries, libraries, cultural centers, museums, memorial halls, and science and technology centers to the public free of charge. We will strengthen the development of tourism infrastructure and begin to implement the second phase of the program for developing tourist sites related to the early history of the CPC. We will comprehensively develop recreational sports. In 2011, radio and television coverage is forecast to reach 96.71% and 97.43% of the population respectively, and 2.31 billion domestic tourist trips will be taken, up 7.4%.

8) We will be innovative in social administration. We will integrate community administration resources, further expand channels for people to make appeals concerning matters affecting their interests, actively prevent and properly handle all types of mass incidents, and strengthen all facets of public security. We will strengthen oversight and administration of food and drug safety. We will resolutely prevent serious and major accidents.

9) We will continue to do a good job in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction. We will fully complete the tasks for post-Wenchuan earthquake recovery and reconstruction, and make genuine progress in post-disaster recovery and rebuilding work in Yushu and Zhugqu.