The central government plans to urge state companies to lay off fewer workers this year as it battles "grim" unemployment, with tens of millions out of work, the labor minister said yesterday in Beijing.

　　The government also plans to teach 300,000 people how to start their own businesses and will train millions more for new jobs, said a report issued at a news conference by Minister of Labor and Social Security Zheng Silin.

　　"We feel a heavy pressure and responsibility on our shoulders," Zheng said. "The situation is grim."

　　Millions of Chinese have lost their jobs as state-owned companies struggle to become profitable amid wrenching economic changes.

　　This year 24 million people in urban areas will be looking for work, Zheng said. That includes 6 million laid-off workers from state companies, 10 million first-time job seekers and 8 million others.

　　State companies that want to lay off workers will be told to shift them to subsidiaries instead, Zheng said. That will "prevent the appearance of rocketing unemployment rates," he said.

　　"We gradually realized that it doesn't work simply to push the workers onto the street and let them fend for themselves," he said.

　　The report by Zheng's ministry said the government will also try to regulate the speed and scale of state company closures.

　　Premier Wen Jiabao, in a government work report to China's parliament laying out economic goals for the year, promised last Friday to create 9 million new jobs.

　　"It is a demanding task for China," Zheng said. "Even if we hit this target of providing 9 million jobs, there will still be a lot of people unemployed."

　　Nevertheless, he said, "we believe our goals ... will be met."

　　Zheng also promised to improve benefits for those who can't find work.

　　"Employment will continue to be a major issue for China in the coming years," he said.

　　Zheng said that the central government will do away with local regulations that discriminate against rural migrant workers and set up a labor market with urban and rural laborers competing on an equal footing. Individuals and enterprises infringing upon lawful rights of rural workers will be penalized harshly, he added.

　　Wang Dongjin, vice minister of labor and social security, said at the news conference that there are plans to draft and improve a relevant mechanism to ensure that rural migrant workers in cities be paid on time and in full in 2004.

　　Wang said the ministry is to expedite the drafting of regulations on labor supervision and salary payment in 2004. In addition, an early-warning system will be instituted to deter payoff default and help rural migrant workers get back their defaulted salaries.

　　"We will exert our utmost to tackle farmer workers' wage arrears issue and provide them with the same social security protection as their urban peers," he said.

　　From 2003 to February 2004, the government helped rural migrant workers get defaulted wages of more than 25 billion yuan (US$3 billion), or more than 90 percent of the total wage arrears.

　　At present, there are some 93 million rural migrant workers in China, mostly working in the construction and service sector.

　　(AP/Xinhua)