LANZHOU, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin has called for solid efforts to stabilize employment and ensure people's basic living needs during an inspection tour in northwest China's Gansu Province from Tuesday to Thursday.
During visits to the cities of Lanzhou and Jiuquan, Shen learned about industrial development, efforts to stabilize employment, social assistance and elderly care services.
Shen said employment is a matter of family well-being and a national priority, and called for stronger efforts to stabilize employment for key groups, including college graduates and migrant workers. She urged greater support for the development of industries and enterprises with strong job-creation capacity to steadily expand employment opportunities.
She stressed the need to step up large-scale vocational skills training, deepen labor cooperation between eastern and western regions, develop more labor service brands with distinctive regional characteristics, and help workers find jobs and increase their incomes.
The State Councilor urged efforts to expand rural elderly care services based on local conditions and develop a rural elderly care service system featuring county-level coordination, urban-rural coordination and approaches suited to local needs.
As the year draws to a close, Shen said efforts should be made to provide care and assistance to people in need and those affected by disasters, ensure that all assistance payments are made on time and in full, and visit and offer support to elderly people living alone, children in difficult circumstances and people with disabilities. ■
