China: employment at heart of government’s priorities

At the closing of the double session of parliament on 28 May, and after delegates of the National People's Congress, the Chinese Parliament, almost unanimously approved the government's progress report, premier Li Keqiang said that measures to safeguard employment, ensure decent living conditions and restart businesses should help to restore growth and stabilise fundamentals in 2020-21. He stressed that “employment is the most important thing in people's lives” and that 70% of state subsidies would be used to preserve household incomes to boost consumption, stimulate the market and support the recovery of small and medium-sized enterprises, which provide 90% of jobs in China.