City aims to create more than 500,000 jobs

Shanghai aims to create more than 500,000 new jobs this year, authorities announced on Thursday.

At a meeting about work on human resources and social security in the city, the government said it will also try to control the registered unemployed population within 185,000, help 10,000 start their own businesses and 8,000 long-term unemployed young people be employed, and control the unemployment rate within 5 percent.

Last year, Shanghai’s employed population set a historic high at around 10.51 million, with the unemployment rate stable within 4 percent.

It also created 570,400 new jobs and helped 9,956 young people find jobs and 12,546 people start businesses.

Preparing for the 46th WorldSkills Competition, which is set to take place in Shanghai next year, is another key task for the city this year.

It will launch planning for the event’s opening and closing ceremonies and optimize plans for the WorldSkills Conference and the WorldSkills Expo as well as plans for pandemic prevention and control and emergency response. It will also continue work on the development of the WorldSkills Museum.

The city will step up efforts in establishing training bases for Chinese national candidates in several skill categories and train them for the competition.

The city will establish a comprehensive skill competition system comprised of the WorldSkills Competition and events at national, city and industrial levels. It will establish technician schools, promote social training for skilled people and enhance rewards for highly skilled talent.

Its aim this year is to subsidize a million people to receive professional training, add 30,000 highly skilled people and sponsor 100 chief engineers and 30 studios of skill masters.