China SCIO | March 1, 2020
Hu Kaihong:
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the press conference being held by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council. Today, we have Mr. You Jun, vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and Ms. Weng Tiehui, vice minister of the Ministry of Education with us. They will brief us on policies about encouraging employment of college graduates and rural migrant workers, as well as take questions on this issue. First, I'll give the floor to Minister You.
You Jun:
Thank you! Good morning media friends. Employment is a major issue that affects our lives and is a grassroot project that concerns everyone. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to this issue, especially at this critical moment as we give the final push in combatting the COVID-19 epidemic. President Xi Jinping has recently given important instructions to advance the work on coordinating the prevention and control of COVID-19 along with emphasizing economic and social development, and enhancing measures to keep employment stable in all sectors. President Xi pointed out that getting people back to work and stability in the job market is a top social priority, and he gave clear instructions on ensuring employment for some key groups of people. It has been emphasized to attach importance to the recruitment work on fresh college graduates, ensuring they can graduate smoothly this year and find employment as early as possible. Migrants workers working in low epidemic risk areas are encouraged to return to their places of work earlier, and proper arrangements will be made to help farmers from poverty-stricken areas to return to their work or find jobs. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has presided over several consecutive executive meetings of the State Council to research and deploy various measures to keep enterprises and employment stable, making it clear of the need to encourage providing employment for college graduates and migrant workers.
The detailed arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council show their deep care and concern for college graduates and migrant workers. The epidemic outbreak inevitably has a huge impact on the economy, and it naturally affects employment, especially for college graduates and farm workers. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security takes stabilizing employment as its top priority. We will take active measures and responsibility to: expand economic development so as to offer more employment opportunities, support the development of all enterprises to secure their employment, ensure employment opportunities for some key groups, optimize training services to help people seek employment, and enhance employment seeking help and support to make it one of our basic tasks. With comprehensive policies and integrated efforts, we hope to implement more concrete and targeted policies and measures to help college graduates and migrant workers find jobs, or return to work, with the aim of minimizing the effect of the epidemic on employment and ensure stable employment.
This concludes my brief introduction, thank you.
Hu Kaihong:
Thank you, vice minister You! vice minister Weng will now give a brief introduction.
Weng Tiehui:
Thank you. Good morning media friends, ladies and gentlemen. After the COVID-19 outbreak, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council has attached great attention to the college graduate employment issue. General Secretary Xi Jinping has given a set of instructions requiring us to take all necessary measures to ensure employment for college graduates, and Premier Li Keqiang has also made some specific arrangements.
There will be 8.74 million college graduates this year, placing enormous pressure on the job market, and the employment challenge has become more difficult with the outbreak of the epidemic. The Ministry of Education has placed employment of college graduates at the top of its work agenda, and we are providing targeted guidance to students, while also working hard with other ministries and departments to explore employment opportunities for them, or provide more further-study options after their graduation.
We are actively pushing forward with our work in the following four aspects.
Firstly, we are trying our utmost to increase employment opportunities. We are working closely with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to secure employment for college graduates, something which was explained by vice minister You Jun. We are working together to stabilize the situation. Meanwhile, we are emphasizing the increase of employment of college graduates in the sectors of basic education, basic medical service and community service. University graduates are also encouraged to join the army. We are working with related departments to offer more grassroot organization employment opportunities to college graduates and encourage them to consider these options.
Secondly, we seek to provide more channels for graduate students to apply for higher education. According to the decisions and plans of the CPC Central Committee and State Council, and considering the education and research capacity of colleges and universities, the academic disciplines needed to support national strategic development, and the shortage of school majors required for economic and social development, we are making great efforts to expand post-graduate student enrollment this year, on the premise of guaranteeing them a quality education. Meanwhile, we have already put great emphasis on some vocational education and applied skill education courses to meet the need for technicians in social services and management. The growing demands for such technicians will result in large numbers of students upgrading from junior college diploma students to undergraduates. We'll facilitate the transition.
Thirdly, we are exploring more recruiting opportunities for college graduates. We have already launched 12 online campus recruitment services in cooperation with other administrative departments, and 18 other national scale recruitment activities are being prepared. We also require local governments to launch online recruitment and offer working posts in accordance with their regional, social and economic development situation. In addition we seek cooperation with job-hunting websites, a major trial after the COVID-19 outbreak. We have already selected five large commercial job-hunting portals including 51job, zhaopin, Bosszhipin, ChinaHR and liepin, and they will all set up a special free campus recruitment section, and offer their high quality services. Considering the graduate students' concern for the credibility of employers, we require these websites to strictly verify the job information published to ensure their accuracy and reliability. We have formed close relationships with these enterprises. The Ministry of Education formally launched the "24365 Online Campus Recruitment Service" today, offering 24-hour daily service all year round. We hope to create an environment which can enable both the job seeker and provider to confirm employment without having to meet each other.
Fourthly, we will provide specific and targeted guidance for students in their job seeking. We require all colleges and universities to show care and concern to each individual college graduate. Career advisors, instructors, and even all supervisors for postgraduate and PhD students should pay close attention to the issue of job-seeking and employment of college graduates. Each student will receive individual guidance. The best efforts will be made to recommend the most suitable job for each graduate according to their interests and characteristics, providing guidance and adjusting their career expectancy. We hope they all find suitable employment in the shortest possible time.
That concludes my introduction and I am now open to questions.
Hu Kaihong:
Thank you, vice minister Weng! Now, we'll open the floor for questions. Please identify your news outlet before asking questions.