BEIJING — China will prioritize employment and social security reforms to meet the needs of industrial upgrades and support the country's modernization drive, said Wang Xiaoping, minister of human resources and social security.

Noting that the overall employment pressure is yet to be eased, and that technological upgrades demand changes in workforce skills, Wang told Xinhua in an interview that more work remains to be done to facilitate high-quality and full employment.

"The structure of China's labor force is undergoing profound changes," said Wang, noting that the rapid development of new quality productive forces and emerging industries have highlighted the need to further deepen reforms in the fields of employment and social security system.

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Meanwhile, an aging population, the acceleration of new urbanization and the rapid development of new types of employment have produced significant challenges for the country's social security network, Wang explained.

In this context, promoting high-quality and full employment has become a priority goal for social and economic development, Wang said, while urging effective coordination of employment policies with fiscal, monetary, investment, consumption, industrial and regional policies.

To address structural problems in the job market, the minister promised to strengthen workforce planning to align supply with demand, and urged the gradual raising of the incomes of skilled workers.

Stating that the employment of college graduates will be the focal point of pro-employment efforts, Wang said more should be done to improve services and guidance for youth job-seekers and expand employment opportunities.

Efforts will be made to allow more people access to social security services, ensure the stability and security of the social security fund, and accelerate the building of a unified social insurance public service platform to improve the convenience of this service.

China has always put stable employment in a prominent position, achieving relatively full employment and maintaining overall stability in the job market despite mounting pressure, the minister said.

Official data showed that the country had created a total of 6.98 million new urban jobs in the first half of this year, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate remaining generally stable at five percent in June 2024.

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The country's reaffirmed pledge to improve the employment-first policy and its social security system is part of a comprehensive set of reforms outlined in a resolution released after the third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party of China Central Committee, which was held from July 15 to 18.

The country will develop sound mechanisms for promoting high-quality and full employment, tackle structural unemployment, and improve the system for unified national management of basic old-age insurance funds, among other measures listed in the resolution.  

China has set a target of creating more than 12 million new urban jobs this year. It is also aiming to keep the surveyed urban jobless rate at around 5.5 percent in 2024.