China announced plans on Monday to help retrain rural workers to improve their job prospects, including women, as part of the government’s aim to expand the agricultural sector and boost the broader economy.
The plan will include vocational education for rural workers, as well as schemes to retrain them to work as domestic or care staff and to help rural workers adapt and find jobs in cities, according to statements by the Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission and other government departments. They outlined 14 specific tasks to promote retraining of the rural workforce.
The Ministry of Commerce said the plan would “strengthen housing security, create favourable conditions for rural workers in cities to enjoy basic public services equally and integrate into the local society as soon as possible”.
The policy follows Beijing’s announcement in April of a 10-year plan to build an agricultural powerhouse, amid escalating tensions with the United States, an economic slowdown and challenges posed by climate change.
China has close to 300 million rural migrants in cities, with around 100 million of them reaching retirement age over the next 10 years, according to official data.
Authorities will “guide rural labour with employment needs, especially rural women and poverty-stricken labour to find employment in the domestic service field,” the commerce ministry statement said.
State broadcaster CCTV quoted Zou Yunhan, deputy director of the Macroeconomic Research Office of the Economic Forecasting Department of the National Information Center, as saying the plan would help improve the supply and quality of workers and better meet employers’ needs.
(Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Tom Hogue, Sonali Paul and Susan Fenton)
