Xinjiang's Comprehensive Developments in Recent Years - Employment Rights Protection (Part 1)

Xinjiang's Comprehensive Developments in Recent Years

Xinjiang is situated in northwest China and the hinterland of the Eurasian Continent, covering an area of 1.66 million sq km. It is home to various ethnic groups, since historical times, different cultures and religions have coexisted, and continue to coexist in the region. In the long historical process, these ethnic groups have communicated and merged with each other, while living, studying, working and developing together in harmony.

As one of the biggest provinces in China, Xinjiang has great potentials in different aspects. However, in recent decades, due to rapid urbanization and economic development in other regions of China, Xinjiang has lagged behind in insufficient job opportunities, incomplete infrastructures, low educational levels, and so forth.

In recent years, the Chinese government has focused extensively on the development of Xinjiang in various aspects, including economic growth, infrastructural construction, improving people's wellbeing, training and education, cultural protection. More and more, the uniqueness and beauty of Xinjiang has attracted increasing numbers of tourists and foreign personnel which helped it to open up to the world.

In this video series, we will take a look at Xinjiang's transformations up to 2020, and witness its changes throughout the years.

Improvements in Employment Rights

For historical and a range of natural reasons, Xinjiang has long lagged behind other parts of the country in development, and there is a large impoverished population. The four prefectures in southern Xinjiang, namely, Hotan, Kashgar, Aksu and Kizilsu Kirgiz, in particular have a poor eco-environment, weak economic foundations, and a serious shortfall in employment carrying capacity. They are identified as areas of extreme poverty. In addition, many local people suffer from poor education and employability, low employment rates and incomes, and have fallen into long-term poverty.

Employment and job security carries great significance for ensuring people's right to work, improving their living standards, and promoting social harmony and stability. Especially since 2012, Xinjiang has vigorously implemented employment projects, enhanced vocational training, and expanded employment channels and capacity. Thanks to these efforts, the employment situation in Xinjiang has continued to improve, people's incomes and quality of life are rising, and their sense of happiness and security has significantly increased.

The scale of employment has expanded continuously

Xinjiang focuses on areas of extreme poverty and key groups with difficulty finding work. It guides people of all ethnic groups to find work nearby, or to locate jobs or start their own businesses in cities, and encourages the impoverished workforce to seek employment outside their hometowns.

- From 2014 to 2019, the total number of people employed in Xinjiang rose from 11.35 million to 13.3 million, an increase of 17.2%

- The average annual increase in urban employment was more than 471,200 people (148,000 in southern Xinjiang, accounting for 31.4%)

- The average annual relocation of surplus rural labor was more than 2.76 million people, of whom nearly 1.68 million, or over 60%, were in southern Xinjiang

- From January to November 2020, 3.15 million jobless rural residents found employment

- In 2020, Xinjiang added 461,100 new urban jobs

- In 2020, Xinjiang granted about 2.52 billion yuan of secured loans for entrepreneurship, allowing 73,900 people to start businesses and 134,300 people to find jobs

The employment structure has become more rational

Xinjiang considers supply-side structural reform as a key priority, and endeavors to raise the level of the primary industry, focus on key projects in the secondary industry, and boost the tertiary industry. It nurtures and strengthens industries with distinctive strengths and labor-intensive industries, and guides the orderly flow of labor to the tertiary industry.

- In terms of the workforce distribution across the three tertiary industries, the ratio in 2014 was 45.4 : 16.0 : 38.6, which evolved to 36.4 : 14.1 : 49.5 in 2019. The tertiary industry saw an increase of 10.9% points, making it the most job-intensive sector

- In terms of workforce distribution in urban and rural areas, surplus rural labor is increasingly moving to cities and towns, and the ability of these places to absorb workforce has been strengthened. The number of people employed in cities and towns increased from 5.35 million in 2014 to 7.34 million in 2019, accounting for 55.2% of the total

- In 2020, the added value of Xinjiang’s primary industry reached about 198.13 billion yuan, up 4.3% year-on-year, while that of the secondary industry reached 474.45 billion yuan, an annual increase of 7.8%, the tertiary industry also edged up 0.2% year-on-year to about 707.19 billion yuan in 2020