Virgil
11-20-2008, 08:04 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/20/china.jobs/index.html?section=cnn_latest
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updated 3:51 p.m. EST, Thu November 20, 2008
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's job outlook is "grim," and the global financial crisis could cause more layoffs and more labor unrest until the country's economic stimulus package kicks in next year, the nation's minister of human resources and social security said Thursday.
The stimulus package, unveiled earlier this month, will pump $585 billion into rebuilding communities destroyed by the May earthquake, constructing railways, housing, airports and highways, and funding other projects.
China is most concerned about the growing labor unrest, the human resources minister, Yin Weimin, said at a news conference. The increase in unrest has paralleled the increase of business and factory closings and job losses.
Yin noted that in the past two months, some businesses, mainly smaller ones, have been forced to close or suspend production.
Several hundred taxi drivers went on strike Wednesday in Chongqing, in southwestern China, after the government said it planned to put more cabs on the district's roads, thereby increasing competition, the Gansu Daily newspaper said
And about 2,000 people rioted Monday in the impoverished northwestern province of Gansu over plans to move Longnan's city government offices, which were damaged in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, to a nearby county.
Residents, fearing the change would reduce their property values and threaten their livelihoods, clashed with police and looted government offices, the Gansu Daily reported.
China's manufacturing sector, which produced 14 percent of the clothing, toys and footwear imported into the United States last year, has decelerated rapidly over the past few months, pulled down by a pair of factors.
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updated 3:51 p.m. EST, Thu November 20, 2008
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's job outlook is "grim," and the global financial crisis could cause more layoffs and more labor unrest until the country's economic stimulus package kicks in next year, the nation's minister of human resources and social security said Thursday.
The stimulus package, unveiled earlier this month, will pump $585 billion into rebuilding communities destroyed by the May earthquake, constructing railways, housing, airports and highways, and funding other projects.
China is most concerned about the growing labor unrest, the human resources minister, Yin Weimin, said at a news conference. The increase in unrest has paralleled the increase of business and factory closings and job losses.
Yin noted that in the past two months, some businesses, mainly smaller ones, have been forced to close or suspend production.
Several hundred taxi drivers went on strike Wednesday in Chongqing, in southwestern China, after the government said it planned to put more cabs on the district's roads, thereby increasing competition, the Gansu Daily newspaper said
And about 2,000 people rioted Monday in the impoverished northwestern province of Gansu over plans to move Longnan's city government offices, which were damaged in the May 12 Sichuan earthquake, to a nearby county.
Residents, fearing the change would reduce their property values and threaten their livelihoods, clashed with police and looted government offices, the Gansu Daily reported.
China's manufacturing sector, which produced 14 percent of the clothing, toys and footwear imported into the United States last year, has decelerated rapidly over the past few months, pulled down by a pair of factors.
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