SOEs should lead on skilled worker incentives

Chinese State-owned enterprises should play a leading role in improving skilled workers' treatment, especially highly-skilled talents, said the senior official at China's top labor ministry on Monday.

On Thursday, the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and State Council jointly released a guideline, calling for innovation on skills-oriented incentives to build a knowledgeable, skilled and innovative workforce.

"The State-owned enterprises, especially those directly under the central government, should take the lead to improve the treatment of technical workers," said Tang Tao, deputy minister of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

"We are now discussing this with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission."

"In addition, we also communicated with All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, hoping that non-State-owned enterprises can increase skilled workers' benefits," he said.

According to the guideline, State-owned enterprises' gross payroll should lean towards highly-skilled workers. And their average salary's increase shouldn't be lower than that of administrative staff.

According to the deputy minister, China has an employed population of 776 million, of which only 165 million are skilled, and a mere 47 million are "highly-skilled", about 6 percent of the entire workforce. "That is a truly serious imbalance between demand and supply in the labor market," Tang said.