China's once reviled private sector is poised to overtake the state in terms of economic clout as millions of people jostle for new jobs amid the nation's most wrenching reforms under Communist rule.
The share of the private sector in the fast-growing Chinese economy hit 33 percent, just below the state sector's 37 percent, according to a quarterly survey by China's labor ministry, state media said yesterday.
The findings come as China plans to canonize four private entrepreneurs as model workers and award them the prestigious May 1 Labor Medal for the first time, underscoring how economic changes are subtly altering the political landscape.
Millions of workers in the massive but inefficient state sector are facing job losses and an acute shortage of relevant skills, as grossly inefficient state firms streamline or close.
China is looking to the private sector to absorb swelling ranks of unemployed migrating in droves to booming cities from the impoverished countryside to find work.
Beijing has highlighted unemployment and the need to build a social security net as critical issues ahead of sweeping leadership changes due this September or October.
Analysts say labor unrest is a potentially explosive issue that could jeopardize a smooth power transition after thousands of workers protested last month against unpaid wages and insufficient welfare support in northeastern cities.
Those protests appear to have petered out under the heavy hand of the government, but analysts see room for more unrest as discontent over official corruption and acute income disparities grows.
The survey highlighted rising competition for jobs in a nation accelerating painful economic reforms and prising its markets open to foreign competition since becoming a WTO member in December.
In stark contrast to job patterns under the former centrally planned economy, eroded since economic reforms began in the late 1970s, the Economic Daily said on average, three applicants now vied for every job in China's 78 cities.
In booming Shanghai and the central city of Changsha, there are more likely to be four people going for every job, the newspaper said.
Unemployment is already growing rapidly and China's official jobless tally is expected to top 20 million in four year's time, compared with 6.81 million in 2001, state media said on Monday.
But analysts say China's official statistics vastly underestimate unemployment as they do not include "xiagang" workers kept on payrolls but sent home on token welfare support.
In a "White Paper" policy document detailing China's strategy to cope with unemployment issued on Monday, Beijing said it would hold a national conference this year to hammer out new policies to create jobs. No details have been given.
China has said it must keep economic growth above seven percent until 2005, through massive state spending if need be, to help create the jobs needed to ensure social stability.
The official Xinhua news agency said a conference was held in Beijing on Monday to commend model workers, an honor usually bestowed on top toilers of the state sector.
Wei Jianxing, a member of the all-powerful Politburo standing committee, stressed the importance of China's working class at the event, saying they were the basis from which to push economic development, Xinhua said.
"Relying on the working class whole heartedly is the fundamental guideline of our party," it quoted Wei as saying.
No public mention was made of private entrepreneurs, but reliance on the working class has started to shift in political spheres as the Communist rulers recognize the need to broaden their legitimacy in the burgeoning private sector.
Xinhua said earlier this month four private businessmen would be among the 997 people awarded the May 1 Labor Medal, a clear sign that China is pressing ahead with plans to open its doors to those once branded exploiters.
President Jiang Zemin said last July the party planned to admit entrepreneurs into its ranks in a bid to modernize the party.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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