China Employment

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According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s employment stood at 774.80 million persons at the end of 2008. Around 306.54 million were employed in the primary industry, accounting for 39.6% of the workforce. The secondary industry employed 211.09 million individuals, representing 27.2% of the total employed population. The employment figure for the tertiary industry was 257.17 million, accounting for 33.2% of China’s workforce.


According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s employment stood at 774.80 million persons at the end of 2008. Around 306.54 million were employed in the primary industry, accounting for 39.6% of the workforce. The secondary industry employed 211.09 million individuals, representing 27.2% of the total employed population. The employment figure for the tertiary industry was 257.17 million, accounting for 33.2% of China’s workforce. The primary industry is involved in converting natural resources into primary products, most of which are used as raw materials for other industries. The secondary industry creates finished, usable products; while the tertiary industry is involved in providing a service.

China Employment: Urban Areas

China’s irregular method of residential registration divides the country’s citizens into urban and rural taking into account their parentage. At the end of 2008, the annual urban employment figure increased by 8.60 million persons to 302.10 million. Of the total, 121.93 million were employed in the urban areas. The figure for on-duty staff and workers grew by 8,800 and reached a high of 115.15 million. The total number of migrant workers was estimated at 225.42 million. Of this, 140.41 million people were working outside their hometown.

China Employment: Rural Areas

To analyse the employment situation in rural areas, the Chinese government conducts the National Agricultural Census on a ten-yearly basis. The last survey, conducted in 2006, estimated the total rural labor force at 531 million persons. Of this, the number of male and female laborers was 269,890 and 261,110, respectively.

The number of rural persons employed was around 478.5 million, representing 90.1% the total labor force. The industry-wise break-up of the rural employed is further divided into:   National Total Eastern Region Central Region Western Region Northeastern Region             Total number of rural employed persons (in millions) 478.52 176.52 130.43 139.27 32.30 Primary industry (%) 70.8 52.4 76.8 86.3 80.1 Secondary industry (%) 15.6 28.8 10.6 5.2 7.8 Tertiary industry (%) 13.6 18.8 12.6 8.5 12.1

 

 

* National Bureau of Statistics

China Employment: Trends

At the end of 2008, 11.13 million new job opportunities were created in the urban areas and 1.43 million of the five million laid-off succeeded in finding new jobs. One person out of 996,500 households categorized as “Zero Employment Families” found employment. To further boost employment, around 34,000 students were engaged in the government’s ambitious “Educational, Agricultural, and Medical Support and Poverty Alleviation” project.

At the end of 2008, the total number of foreigners with working permits for Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong was estimated at 217,000. Additionally, 89,000 permits were issued for mainland China.

The Chinese government is ambitious about improving the employment situation. It has incorporated special polices for the regulation and management of the human resource pool. Extensive assistance through public employment agencies is also being provided. However, against the backdrop of a global slump and massive layoffs, maintaining the pace of employment appears to be a daunting task.

 

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