This policy document is a national-level plan issued by the State Council to implement an employment-first strategy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2025-2030). It frames employment as a fundamental element of people’s livelihoods and national stability, aligning employment objectives with economic and social development, industrial transformation, human resource development, and social protection. It sets the objective of achieving high-quality and ample employment, and establishes targets for employment growth, unemployment control, skills development, and expansion of social insurance coverage, while emphasizing employment impact assessment, policy coordination, and adaptation to technological change, including artificial intelligence.
The Plan emphasizes a people-centered approach, the integration of investment in physical infrastructure and human capital, and the prevention of large-scale unemployment as the bottom line. The Plan sets out cross-sectoral measures and priority actions: strengthening macro policy coordination to support employment; fostering industry-employment alignment (stabilizing labor-intensive sectors, expanding service-sector and emerging-industry employment, supporting enterprises to retain and expand jobs); and shaping modern human resources through education and large-scale vocational skills training. It highlights targeted actions for key groups including university graduates, youth, rural migrant workers, veterans, and registered unemployed or disadvantaged persons, and promotes flexible and new forms of employment together with protections for such workers. For rural workers, it strengthens labour cooperation mechanisms, vocational training, county-level economic development, rural industries, work-relief programmes, and employment assistance to prevent a return to poverty, while supporting the orderly urban integration of rural migrants. The Plan also promotes employment for university graduates and other young people through job creation, internships, skills training, career guidance, employment services, and support for employment in key sectors and less-developed regions.