News Desk
SHANGHAI, — Facing mounting unemployment pressures, Premier Li Qiang has pledged to expand job opportunities and prevent a return to widespread poverty, particularly among migrant workers and other vulnerable groups.
In his annual report to the National People’s Congress on March 5, Li set an ambitious target: the creation of more than 12 million urban jobs in 2025 while maintaining the unemployment rate at around 5.5 percent. But critics say these figures obscure deeper structural problems threatening China’s economic stability.
Li called employment the “cornerstone of people’s livelihood,” reaffirming a commitment made two years ago. Yet, China’s job market is under strain, with a sluggish economic recovery, global uncertainties, and what Li described as “more pronounced structural employment problems,” particularly affecting manufacturing, technology, and service sectors, as well as recent graduates and rural migrant workers who struggle to secure stable employment.
More than 12 million university graduates—up from 11.79 million last year—are expected to enter the workforce, while millions who recently escaped poverty remain at risk of falling back.
The government’s concern over a potential “large-scale relapse into poverty” follows President Xi Jinping’s 2021 declaration that extreme poverty had been eradicated. But maintaining those gains is proving difficult. Speaking at Beijing’s “two sessions” on March 9, Human Resources and Social Security Minister Wang Xiaoping warned that 30 million people who recently emerged from poverty must stay employed to avoid slipping back. She also cited a mismatch between workers’ skills and market needs, with jobs going unfilled even as job seekers struggle to find work.
Recent measures to tackle unemployment include job fairs, such as one in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on February 15, where over 200 companies offered 4,000 positions in biotechnology, e-commerce, and other fields. Yet analysts question whether such efforts can keep pace with growing demand or address deeper challenges, including technological disruption and demographic shifts.
Critics argue that China’s reliance on gig work and vocational training—both key initiatives highlighted by Wang—offers only temporary relief. In recent years, the gig economy has expanded rapidly but remains plagued by low wages and lack of worker protections, while vocational training programs have struggled to align with fast-changing industry demands, often leaving graduates underqualified or mismatched for available jobs. While gig jobs provide flexibility, they often lack stability and benefits, leaving workers vulnerable. Meanwhile, vocational training programs struggle to keep up with rapidly evolving industry demands.
With economic headwinds intensifying and structural contradictions—such as an aging workforce, shifting industrial demands, and an overreliance on state-led investment—deepening, Beijing’s optimistic employment targets may be difficult to achieve, raising doubts about the government’s ability to resolve the root causes of China’s labor crisis.
