Life of Guangzhou - Guangzhou Largely Ends Zero-Employment Families

In the first half of this year, 15,000 formerly unemployed people and urban dwellers previously living in the countryside have found a job after skills training, according to the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security. The city's unemployment rate has been capped at 2.23% and "zero-employment" families have largely disappeared.

Guangzhou has launched a job skills training initiative, under which people having difficulty finding a job receive skills training to improve their employment prospects.

Every year, more than 300,000 people in Guangzhou receive skills training. Citywide, there are 14 government-funded training institutions, 75 private training institutions, and more than 80 skills certification agencies. The number of training institutions includes 10 entrepreneurial training institutions and four provincial-level entrepreneurial training centers.

Guangzhou is the first city endeavoring to ensure that at least one person from each household has a job. The number of "zero-employment families" has been adopted by the Central Government as an indicator of a local government’s performance in promoting employment. In late 2003, the Guangzhou Municipal Government launched a drive in the former Dongshan District to assist "zero-employment" families. Members of "zero-employment families" are given preference in job placements and entitled to various preferential government policies.

Guangzhou strives to ensure that at least 40% of the city's residential communities will have an adequate employment rate by the end of this year. The adequate employment rate means that at least 80% of laid-off workers in a residential community who hold a Preferential Re-employment Card issued by the government will find a new job, and at least 90% of the neediest unemployed people will find a job.