 China’s Employment Crisis – A Stimulus for Policy Change?Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, 2009, vol. 38, issue 2, 121-144 Abstract: In the face of severe job problems, China’s government has adopted a huge stimulus package in a bid to achieve eight per cent economic growth, which is said to guarantee at least enough jobs for the new entrants to the labour market. The real situation, however, will be much grimmer than statistics indicate. Unregistered groups like unemployed rural migrants, job-searching college graduates, laid-off workers and others together with the officially registered unemployed and the new market entrants could add up to 42 million altogether, while even the most optimistic estimates say only around 15 million new jobs could be created in 2009. Nevertheless, the stimulus package demonstrates an at least temporary shift in economic policy from capital-intensive to labour-intensive growth. Additionally, the new initiatives to boost social-security spending could help to address the grievances of the most vulnerable groups in the labour market. The Chinese government’s reaction to the emerging employment crisis once again demonstrates the often underestimated adaptability of China’s leadership. Keywords: Social security; Finance; Unemployment; Migrant workers (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gig:chaktu:v:38:y:2009:i:2:p:121-144 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article More articles in Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell from Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg Contact information at EDIRC. |
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