Address on current economy

Fourth, we should attach great importance to enhancing employee training. People used to say that China has a demographic dividend, but actually we also have a dividend of qualified personnel, which is something that should not be underestimated. In order to upgrade the Chinese economy, we should not only release the biggest dividends of reform, but also turn demographic dividend into dividend of qualified personnel. We have made some progress in this area. Of all urban employees, 36% are skilled workers with a quarter of them being highly skilled ones. While this is not a small number, we still lag far behind developed countries in this regard. Currently, the government provides funding for training 10 million employees every year. This is not a small number either, but still it is not big enough as there are several hundred million employees in China. We must spend more money on employee training and give greater policy priority to employee education to turn demographic dividend into dividend of qualified personnel. We should support trade unions in carrying out skill training programs for employees to turn the overwhelming majority of employees into skilled employees and equip majority of them with intermediate to advanced level skills. This will spark motivation and creativity of employees and I am fully confident we can reach our goal.

We must also take workplace safety very seriously. Workplace safety is of paramount importance as it is about protecting human lives. We should never drop our guard. The Party and government have always attached great importance to workplace safety and we have also made a lot of efforts in this area in recent years. Yet there are still many problems. Enterprises alone cannot ensure workplace safety, and the government must intensify supervision. The public and trade unions should also play their role of supervision.

In conclusion, I wish the 16th National Congress of Chinese Trade Unions a full success!