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Saturday, August 14, 1999
 
20,000 a month joining jobless

VIVIEN PIK-KWAN CHAN
The mainland faces mounting unemployment as an additional 20,000 have been added to the list of jobless each month since January, an official at the Ministry of Social Security revealed.

"The unemployment situation has worsened as the country continued its economic restructuring," the official said.

"In the past seven months, we've recorded an additional 20,000 jobless each month. This rising phenomenon has been consistent throughout the country," he said.

According to official figures there were 5.7 million urban residents registered as unemployed.

The mainland's official urban registered jobless rate was 3.1 per cent at the end of last year, but the official admitted that the actual rate would be far higher if laid-off workers - those who were sacked with minimal pay but who had yet to register as jobless - were taken into account.

The number of workers falling into this category would rise by three million by the end of this year, the official said.

Unemployment benefits had been extended to cover not only workers from state firms but also those from private and foreign-funded enterprises, some of whom had begun to shed jobs.

The unemployment security fund, now averaging 195 yuan (HK$180) each month, would be increased by 30 per cent on October 1, the official said.

As the jobless situation worsened, the Labour and Social Security Ministry had ordered provincial authorities to step up efforts to collect contributions from enterprises for unemployment funds.

"Some enterprises who are performing well have refused to participate in the fund and were summoned to provincial leaders for a 'correction of attitude'," the official said.

He said some provinces, such as Liaoning and Heilongjiang, were encountering problems in raising enough funds for the jobless.

But in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, they had raised more funds than needed.

"Shanghai raised 1.5 billion yuan in unemployment security funds in the first half of this year. Officials there claimed they did not know how to spend the money," he said.

As a result, Beijing and Shanghai municipal authorities wrote to the ministry to apply for a lower contribution rate from businesses.

Firms in the two cities were recently allowed to contribute 1.5 per cent instead of the officially required two per cent of their monthly wage packet to jobless funds, while each worker could pay 0.5 per cent instead of one per cent of their monthly wage.

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