Premier Li Keqiang at the State Council executive meeting on Sept 4 called for increased efforts to stabilize employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign capital, domestic investment and expectations.

The Premier said though China’s economy achieves generally stable growth, with further progress in the first half of this year, it is still facing rising downward pressure due to the increasingly complicated and challenging external environment.

Governments at various levels should use counter-cyclical adjustment policy tools and targeted measures to ensure a stable economic performance, he said, adding that governments must spare no efforts to meet this year’s economic and social development goals.

He said that employment is the most important issue for people’s livelihoods and a prioritized goal of development, which should be put at the top of the agenda.

Current employment policies work well, but departments should accelerate implementation and learn from experience to play a more prominent role, he said.

Vocational schools strongly hope to be included in the unified enrollment platform, and relevant departments should speed up efforts to achieve that, the Premier said.

The meeting decided to expand enrollment of vocational schools by 1 million students and distribute 100 billion yuan of unemployment insurance surplus for vocational skills training.

Premier Li asked for weak spots to be addressed, people’s livelihoods to improve, development momentum to be strengthened and effective investment to be increased.

The proactive fiscal policies and prudent monetary policies should be coordinated, he said.

For reducing burdens on enterprises, he called for all tax and fee cuts to bring real benefits to businesses and to stabilize market expectations.

The meeting said that local government special bonds within this year’s quota should be issued before September and delivered to projects before October.

Policy tools such as comprehensive and targeted cuts of required reserve ratios will be taken to encourage financial institutions to channel more capital into inclusive financing, enhancing support for the real economy, small and micro firms in particular, according to the meeting.

Departments should deliver more targeted efforts to ensure the economy runs within an appropriate range, the Premier said.