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More emphasis should be attached to the establishment of a long-term employment assistance mechanism, according to a commentary in Workers’ Daily. An excerpt follows:
Employment is the base of people’s livelihood. It is gratifying to see that Northeast China’s Liaoning Province recently carried out an employment relief act to help completely unemployed families.
In early 2005, the Liaoning government decided that there should be at least one person employed for every urban family in need of work. A total of 175,000 people from 143,000 families had new jobs by the end of that year. Another 34,000 families benefited from this project in the first 10 months of 2006. Now a balance has been sustained and the number of “zero-employment families” is zero. A long-term employment relief mechanism has been established. A report in People’s Daily points out that the local government has done a good down-to-earth job.
Various activities have aimed to help ordinary people nationwide in recent years, including many long-term relief mechanisms. Liaoning’s “zero-employment family” relief work is a typical example.
As the reform of enterprises deepens and labor relations adjust, some urban families are facing difficulties. Employment and re-employment have become the biggest issue for them. This is especially true as some laborers age, have no skills, or are in poor health. In some families both husband and wife have lost their jobs. Under such circumstances, it is extremely important to help them to get a job.
When completing the social security system including pension insurance, unemployment insurance and minimum-standard living insurance, governments at all levels should not forget building a long-term mechanism to promote employment. A job is always better than one-time financial relief. It would solve the problem at the root and show the government’s responsibility to concentrate on employment, activate all resources, carry out favorable policies and enable laborers to support themselves legally.