China’s employment policy since 1949: retrospect, present, and future directions

Abstract

ABSTRACT China’s employment policy has been continuously improved,and the employment situation has undergone tremendouschanges. Based on the economic system and typical employmentpolicy since the founding of China in 1949, this paper dividesthe employment system into five stages: the period ofplanned economic system featuring ‘unified contracting anddistribution’ (1949-1977), the period of dual-track system featuring‘three-in-one combination’ (1978-1991), the period of promoting the‘re-employment project’ (1992-2001), the period of implementingactive employment policy (2002-2011), and the period of promotinghigher quality and fuller employment (2012-present). In these fivestages, while China has made great achievements in employmentwork, the pressure still exists and the quality of employmentremains the focus of attention. Can the development of employmentpolicy improve China’s labor market? To study the effectivenessof employment policy in each stage, this paper uses two keyindicators of the unemployment rate and structural deviationdegree, then it reflects the economic effect in each stage andconcludes that the coordination degree between employment andindustrial structure is improving, but it still has a long way to go.Finally, the paper puts forward solutions to the remaining problemsand points out the direction for future employment work.