Addressing Youth Unemployment in China

By Mr.Du Dong International Department

All-China Youth Federation

20 June, 2008

Part Ⅰ

Challenges

Best educated generation in history — <WRD 2007>.

youth unemployment is waste of human resources.

social, economic, political problem

283 million young people aged 14 to 29 in China. (2005)

Supply and demand comparison in the labor market

Supply of working population24 million

Job positions10million

Growth trend in the coming years gap14 million

China Employment Statistics 1

China Employment Statistics 2

Registered unemployment rate in cities :

2004: 4.3% 2005: 4.2% 2006: 4.2% 2007: 4.6% Seems low,but… 485 million labors in rural are not counted, majority of the abu

ndant rural labor (totaling 150 million) is youth

China Employment Trend

Since 1990, the employment content of growth is going down rapidly.

The employment in formal sector is going rapidly down, while the employment in informal sector is growing.

Big challenges for youth employmentin cities and rural areas

New entrants to labor market annually: 10 million

Among which, Colleague graduates reach 4.95 million in 2007, an increase of 0.82 million than 2006

(from 2003 to 2007, the graduates are increasing by

46%, 32%,21%, 30%,20% than previous year) 70% of the registered unemployed in cities are under 35

years old (5.6 million in 2004) 70% of the migrant workers are young people aging

between 16-35.

Part Ⅱ

4E Stategy

Employment Creation Entrepreneurship Employability Equal Opportunity

1. Employment Creation for Youth

Chinese government adheres to employment-improving macroeconomic policies

Through active financial policies and moderate monetary policies, expend the domestic demand, promote employment through sustained economic growth.

Experience

Traditional notion: employment will increase naturally following the sustained economic growth.

continuous economic growth is essential, but not sufficient. growth in quality and quantity. Review economic policies from the perspective of promoti

ng employment. Central goal —— byproduct

2. Creating Youth Employment through Entrepreneurship

Implement a development strategy that promotes job creation and encourage entrepreneurship to create more employment opportunities.

—— government work report 2007

Foster entrepreneurial culture. historical entrepreneurial culture; local culture

Entrepreneurship development chart

Government,college inputs

Intelligence （ KAB,SYB ＋ local brand ）

Training

Angel fund

Intelligence（ mentors’ guide ）

Start up Development

SME loans

Venture capital

Private fund

intelligence （ mentor ＋ management courses ）

Listed in stock market

Cumulate credits

Generate credit

Security fund

practice:Mobile class,

concomitant teacher,Experience sharing

academic ：MBA ， EMBA

Expansion

China Youth Entrepreneurship Campaign

Goal optimize the environment for entrepreneurship and promote trai

ning for entrepreneurship

Achievements(1998-2006) helped 86,000 young people start their businesses;

Mid-term Objective (2007-2010) help 500,000 young people learn business start-up skills; help 200,000 young people start their businesses

Awareness Raising Event

publicity and awareness-raising activities

China Youth Entrepreneurship Award -- jointly launched by ACYF and the Ministry

of Labor from 2004;

-- 10 award winners annually

Entrepreneurship Education

KAB project (ILO-Know About Business) -- successful pilot operation in 81 universities; -- plans to expand to 2000 universities in 2010

Seminars and Workshops -- train over 950,000 young people

Professional consultancy on one-to-one basis

Internship opportunities

Youth business incubator

Provide Business Start-up Service

Provide financial support

China Youth Entrepreneurship Small-loan Program

Launched in 20 provinces in 2007Current Development in 7 provinces:

-- total amount of 159 million RMB yuan;

-- support 38 enterprises and over 130 young start-ups.

3. Improve employability of the youth

Core function of educainal system

Better connection with schools and enterprises.

Employability (1)

Provide intermediary service Set up 483 youth employment service centers/job

centers and 770 youth re-employment markets, which in total organized 6800 workshops/seminars, provide employment consultancy for 4.72 million youth and help over 1.2 million youth employed.

Chine Youth Entrepreneurship Website and its 15 online job markets.

Provide job opportunities to 834,000 in 107 key cities.

Employability (2)

Conduct skill/vocational training provide skills training for 2.8 million laid-off or

unemployed youthprovide employment consultancy and employability

training for 650,000 university students provide 28 million migrant young workers in 6830

training centers in cities help 1.54 million rural youth improve employability in

rural youth centers

Employability (3)

Provide employment assistance for disadvantaged groups

team support

one-to-one assistance

4. Equal opportunity

Against prejudice, discrimination, obstacles toward youth employment.

CSO engaged in consultation process of Employment Promotion Law which was released in August 2007,China.

Employment Promotion Law

Policy support and legal obligations

double-edged sword

Part Ⅲ

Youth employment priority

targeted groups and main

characteristics in China

Youth employment priority targeted groups

College graduates Expansion of higher education; China is in an age of substantial social transition and

young people’s failure to start their career development will not only lead to waste of human resources, but also possibly trigger serious social problems.

Rural migrant youth Urbanization of the country; balance the development

between the urban and rural areas.

Main Characteristics

Pooling Resources Together

• build up networks of relevant partners;

• act as focal point for inter-governmental or cross-sector theme groups

Institutionalizing Youth Initiatives

• 500 youth employment service center/job center were established in cities;

• 1100 youth centers were set up in rural areas

Delivering Services through ACYF’s Broad Network

– 12 national-level member organizations– 36 federations in provinces, autonomous regions (including

municipalities at provincial level) – 3 million youth league branches– 183,000 full-time youth workers– 70 million communist youth league members (aging between 14-

28);– 1717 ACYF individual members at national level and 60476

individual members at provincial and local level (aging under 40) 13.5 million registered young volunteers

Part Ⅳ

Future plans

Advocate for a national policy and action plan on youth employment

Expand the scale and improve quality for youth employment

Cultivate a popular youth entrepreneurship culture

Further promote international cooperation on youth employment

Thanks!