The idea of developing periodic employment and flexitime at
work was suggested late last year in the Proposal for Formulating
the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05).
The policy will
not be officially carried out until approved at the annual
meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC), which will
open soon.
Although this kind
of employment concept was rejected years ago because it was
too difficult to implement, China wants to try again.
China Women's News
recently published a series of articles discussing the topic,
reflecting views of government officials, scholars and the
public.
Restructuring the
centrally planned Chinese economy into a more market-oriented
one has forced many enterprises to lay off workers to increase
efficiency. As a result, cradle-to-grave welfare is gone forever.
Zhang Zuoyi, minister
of labor and social security, believes periodic employment
- where workers can move more freely between jobs - is a critical
part of a changing employment pattern under a market economy.
According to the
principle of State personnel reform, the competitive contract
system should be introduced in enterprises or institutions
operating under all kinds of ownership.
This means that
people will no longer be guaranteed a job for life.
This system also
makes re-employment easier, Zhang said.
Flexible part-time
and seasonal jobs, increasing with the soaring demands for
service in the community, are more suitable for older and
unskilled laid-off workers.
Chen Lijia, an
official from the Social Development Department of State Development
Planning Commission, said a flexible job market would play
a positive role in shaping a mature labor market.
As an important
policy of government macro-economic regulation, expanding
employment is a substantial guarantee of social stability
and sustainable economic growth.
When labor-intensive
collectively run or private-owned businesses are booming with
the encouragement of the State, employment mobility will inevitably
increase.
Still, such an
economic system still requires a reliable welfare support.
This kind of job
pattern was originally a feature of working women's lives
because they would quit to have children.
Jiang Yongping,
a scholar with the Institute on Women's Study under the All-China
Women's Federation, pointed out that periodic and flexitime
jobs can have a negative influence on women, though it does
not target them in particular.
Investigations
from countries in the European Union have indicated that their
low employment rate is closely linked to the fact that many
women are doing low-paid, part-time jobs with insufficient
welfare.
In fact, periodic
employment can be one of the worst results of market-based
social justice, Jiang warned.
The rapid growth
of the non-State economy has seen an increase in gender discrimination
in the workplace.
Periodic employment
has become a euphemism for companies to refuse to take on
or to sack women of child-bearing age.
Periodic employment
should not become a precursor to periodic unemployment.
Wang Jianguo, director
of the Training and Development Department of Legend Group,
a leading IT company in China, said there would be more employment
options with the progress of China's economy. Employees should
be more active in deciding when to work and when to study
instead of complying with the arrangements of the State or
employers.
Periodic employment
requires employees to be more independent. At the very least,
this should teach them something about themselves.
(China Daily 03/02/2001)
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