Improve the system of protecting and improving people's livelihood
Editor's note: The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that ensuring and improving people's livelihood in the process of development is a major task of Chinese modernization. China Economic Times invited well-known experts in related fields to interpret in depth that ensuring and improving people's livelihood is the basic institutional guarantee for maintaining social fairness and enhancing people's well-being, an important institutional arrangement for promoting economic and social development and realizing that the broad masses of people can share the fruits of reform and development, and a major issue in governing the country and security. With the promotion of further deepening reform in an all-round way, everyone expects that the "big net" of China's social security will become denser and tighter.
The core viewpoint is to establish a unified and fair labor market across the country, eliminate market segmentation caused by systems, discrimination, monopolies, etc., further promote the reform of the household registration system, the overall planning of basic pension insurance and the equalization of basic public services, and gradually eliminate the obstacles to the flow of labor between regions and between urban and rural areas, so that the spatial allocation of labor resources will be more optimized, and supply and demand will be more matched.
■Zhao Zhong
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to improve the promotion mechanism for high-quality and full employment, improve the employment public service system, and strive to solve structural employment contradictions. Employment is the result of the equilibrium formed by the matching of supply and demand in the labor market, the process of labor entering production, the healthy development of the economy and society, and the means for families to obtain income, and the most basic livelihood of the people. The quality of employment mainly depends on the level of social and economic development and the development model, and it is necessary to improve the promotion of economic development to employment, promote employment through the combination of policies and improve the matching of labor supply and demand.
Improve economic development
Driving force for employment
The expansion of employment absorption capacity is rooted in the increase in the demand for labor, an important factor of production, in the production and operation activities of enterprises and other business entities. Stimulating market vitality and promoting high-quality economic development is the foundation of improving the ability of society to absorb employment, so the key point of the employment-first policy is to adhere to the orientation of economic development and employment, build a virtuous circle of economic growth and employment promotion, and build an employment-friendly economic development model.
It is necessary to unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector of the economy, unswervingly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector of the economy, and through perfecting and perfecting the business environment, create an institutional environment in which the main bodies of various ownership systems use the elements of resources on an equal footing according to law, participate in competition in an open, fair, and just manner, develop in the course of complementarity, and advance in coordination, and create more jobs by stimulating the vitality of the main business entities of different ownership systems.
State-owned enterprises play a key role in the mainland's economic development, and have the characteristics of an important position, a strong ability to gather and integrate resources, a long industrial chain involved, and a large social influence. State-owned enterprises should be encouraged and guided to make full use of their status, influence, resources and industrial chain in production and operation to better play the role of employment and promote employment, and take employment as an important part of corporate social responsibility. The development of the non-public sector of the economy is an important force in the mainland's economic development, creating various forms of jobs, and is the most important demander in the labor market; small, medium, and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households are the main components of the non-public economy, absorbing more than 80 percent of the labor force for employment, and are the most important creators of employment, and promoting the development of the non-public sector is of great importance to improving the ability to create and absorb jobs.
In the policy system, the employment priority policy should be placed at the macro policy level, and the macroeconomic regulation and control system oriented by employment priority should be improved, and an institutional mechanism for the coordination of fiscal, monetary, investment, consumption, industrial, and regional policies with employment policies should be formed.
When implementing fiscal and monetary policies, it is necessary to appropriately favor industries and market entities that have significantly driven employment, such as labor-intensive industries, tertiary industries, and small, medium and micro enterprises, and promote the healthy development of small, medium, and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households through a combination of fiscal, financial, and post subsidy policies. In the industrial policy, it is necessary to pay attention to the improvement of employment capacity and employment quality by industrial development, economic transformation and upgrading, and take employment development as an important dimension of industrial development. In regional development, we should give full play to the employment creation function of large cities and economic belts, guide labor flow through economic development and job creation, and coordinate and match the distribution of industries with the distribution of labor. Attaching importance to the development of the service industry, the service industry not only has a strong ability to absorb employment, but also an incubator for nurturing new business forms. Specifically, there should be three directions for the development of the service industry at present, one is to develop infant and young child care services, the other is to develop pension services for the elderly population, and the third is to develop the technical service industry associated with the Internet and big data. Establish an employment impact assessment system and mechanism for major policies, major projects, and major productive forces, and enhance the direct and indirect employment effects of major national investments and major projects.
Improve and improve the combination of points and faces
Labour market policy system
Employment is both a family and a national affair, and labor market policy is both an economic policy and a livelihood policy. There are two key points of labor market policy: one is job creation, which increases the opportunity for labor endowment to be converted into income, and at the same time stimulates the vitality of enterprises and workers; The second is to pay attention to the amount and stability of labor income, increase the income of laborers, smooth the fluctuation of income, and improve the livelihood and well-being of workers.
In general, in addition to the traditional employment policy, it is necessary to improve and innovate policies according to economic and social development and changes, among which the development of new economy and new employment forms, population aging, and technological progress represented by artificial intelligence are three important areas.
New employment forms are one of the main sources of new employment, and platform-based, flexible, and unclear labor relations are important characteristics of new employment groups. It is necessary to adapt to the development of new forms of business and new forms of employment, improve the work-related injury insurance system, expand the coverage of work-related injury insurance, make the basic old-age insurance and other systems more friendly to new employment groups, and explore a social security system and labor rights protection mechanism that are decoupled from labor relations. Through policies, platform enterprises will be guided to play their role, corporate social responsibility will be strengthened, a win-win situation will be formed for new business enterprises and new employment groups, and an environment conducive to the overall healthy development of new business formats will be created.
The mainland has entered a moderately aging society, with the elderly population aged 65 and above accounting for 15.4% of the total population, and the average life expectancy has reached 78.6 years. Promote employment through the development of the silver economy in a targeted manner.
To this end, while actively responding, participating in and leading the AI technology revolution, the mainland should pay attention to its impact on employment and income distribution, and take measures to reduce the negative impact on workers' welfare. Labor economists will be added to the Artificial Intelligence Special Committee, in-depth research on the impact of artificial intelligence on employment and income will be strengthened, education will be more adapted to the requirements of the artificial intelligence era, educational resources will be equitable and lifelong learning will be promoted, and sustainable talent dividends will be provided for economic innovation and social development, so as to ensure that the mainland will gain a leading edge in talent and technology in the fourth wave of industrial revolution.
Technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, are profoundly affecting the labor market, and a multi-dimensional response is needed to address the system of this technological revolution. First, it is necessary to promote the content and methods of education to be more suitable for the requirements of the era of artificial intelligence, whether it is the technical knowledge required in the era of artificial intelligence, or the quality of workers such as innovation ability and interpersonal skills, which should be the focus of today's education. Second, it is necessary to promote the transformation of the structure of the mainland's labor market, adopt policies and measures to promote the increase of non-routine jobs, and steadily increase the proportion of non-routine operational work and non-routine knowledge work. Third, it is necessary to improve the relevant fiscal, tax and social security policies, and balance the impact of artificial intelligence development on different groups of people; In line with the development of the digital economy, the change of the organizational form of factors, and the change of the distribution mode of factors, we will study and explore digital tax, robot tax and other taxes.
At the point, it is necessary to implement precise policies to stabilize the employment of key groups. The first is to further reform the household registration system and promote the integration of migrant workers into the workplace. The second is to establish and improve the youth employment service system to help young people successfully complete the process of entering the labor market for the first time, and help young people, including college students, to find their first job. Through employment services and public welfare posts, the labor potential of low-income groups is stimulated, and opportunities are created to increase the labor remuneration and labor productivity of low-income groups at the same time. At the same time, the social security system and the social assistance system should be strengthened and brought into play the role of the low-income groups. Increase opportunities for upward mobility for low-income groups through the improvement of basic public services.
Multi-dimensional improvement
Matching labor supply with demand
Employment is a reflection of the equilibrium between the supply and demand of the labor market, and it is crucial to improve the matching of labor supply and demand and establish a fair and unified labor market. There are differences in resource endowments, economic structures, and development levels among various parts of the mainland, as well as differences in the knowledge structure and labor skills of the labor force. Establish a unified and fair labor market across the country, eliminate market segmentation caused by systems, discrimination, monopolies, etc., further promote the reform of the household registration system, the overall national planning of basic old-age insurance, and the equalization of basic public services, and gradually eliminate obstacles to the flow of labor between regions and between urban and rural areas, so that the spatial allocation of labor resources will be more optimized, and supply and demand will be more matched.
Through the reform and improvement of the education and lifelong learning system, the skills of workers are matched with the market demand. The gross enrollment rate of higher education in mainland China has reached 60.2%, and higher education has changed from elite education to mass education, and its employment must mainly rely on market forces to solve. Through the establishment of a sound lifelong learning system, a system for updating and upgrading labor skills of labor force will be formed, so that the skill formation of workers can match technological progress and industrial upgrading.
Encourage the development of online recruitment platforms and human resource service industries. With the development of society and technological progress, online recruitment platforms are becoming more and more important, and the human resource service industry is developing rapidly. Promoting the healthy development of online recruitment and job search platforms through PPP, government procurement and other forms can break through the limitations of offline recruitment physical space, expand the matching space, and through the development of human resources service industry, we can better carry out targeted and precise services for different groups, which is conducive to the matching of labor and enterprises and reduces frictional unemployment.
(The author is a professor and dean of the School of Labor and Human Resources, Chinese Minmin University)
Chief Producer丨Wang Hui and Che Haigang
Producer丨Li Piguang, Chen Bo, Wang Yu
Editor-in-Chief丨Mao Jinghui Editor丨Chen Shuhan