Commentary

China Watch

Forum Digests

Columnists

Letters

Set up fund to train jobless

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-06 07:47

As 20 million rural migrant workers have lost their jobs, we should create a special government-backed fund to enhance their working skills, says an article in the Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

It will be a key task to solve the issue of 20 million jobless rural migrant workers this year amid the financial woes. Their unemployment not only affects their income, but also has a serious impact on social stability.

The mass lay-offs of rural migrant workers are partly due to their own poor labor quality.

Now, the second generation of rural migrant workers is emerging, coexisting with the first generation. But the pity is that the new generation is no different from the old in terms of labor skills.

Most of them are still secondary or even primary school graduates, which makes them almost the weakest to retain their jobs in a crisis. In addition, vocational training has been seldom applied to these workers, which naturally makes them bear the brunt of any economic crisis.

In this situation, it's necessary to launch a large-scale vocational training program specially designed for rural migrant workers. And this training is also a must for China to upgrade its economic mode.

Since late last year, many provinces have already adopted vocational training programs, but these programs are only aimed to stabilize social order and most of them are superficial, lacking necessary capital and teaching support.

Therefore, it is good to set up a special fund for rural migrant workers' vocational training and include this fund in the national financial budget system to guarantee its normal operation.

(China Daily 02/06/2009 page4)