Young jobless people have surpassed local middle-aged laid-off
workers to become the largest beneficiaries of the city's newly
created jobs, according to the Shanghai Labor and Social Security
Bureau.
The city created 348,500 job opportunities in the first half of
this year, 8 percent higher than the figure for the same period
last year.
Nearly 40 percent, or 137,000 newly created vacancies, were
taken up by the unemployed aged between 20 to 30.
Laid-off workers aged 40 to 50 accounted for just 26 percent,
the bureau said.
"The rise in the number of young people getting reemployed
indicates that a series of skills training programs launched by the
government for the youth is having some effect," said Sheng Zuhuan
of the bureau's employment division.
The bureau kicked off a youth vocational skills training plan
last year, offering subsidized training courses, and free
internship opportunities at big companies. It also launched six
on-site skills training bases to enhance young unemployed people's
professional competence.
Meanwhile, the city's strategy of focusing on the service sector
also works in favor of youngsters, who are more suitable and
competent to meet the demand for finance and business
professionals, Sheng added.
About 95,000 youngsters were employed in the service sector this
year, which is nearly half of the new professionals hired in the
sector. Most middle-aged jobless were reemployed with
government-subsidized jobs such as traffic assistants, environment
inspection assistants and greenery workers.
Besides, the bureau said that local non-state-owned companies
continued to be the biggest job providers this year.
Among jobs created this year, 73 percent came from
foreign-invested companies, joint ventures or privately-owned
firms, with the private sector continuing to top the list by
providing up to 110,000 positions.
(Shanghai Daily July 21, 2005)