Project description

Title: Employment Promotion and Training in Liaoning
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: China
Lead executing agency: Liaoning Provincial Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation
Overall term: 2006 to 2011

Context

The province of Liaoning is a heavy industry zone in northeast China, with many of its enterprises still state-owned and inefficient. Liaoning was late in beginning the necessary restructuring, and many less-skilled workers lost their jobs when industry was transformed. Several public institutions are dealing with the promotion of structural change and its impact on the labour market, but coordination between their labour market and business development strategies is poor.

Objective

Further refined employment-generating business development and labour market policies are being implemented by the relevant government institutions in coordination with business associations and showing first results.

Approach

With the relevant provincial authorities and non-state actors, demand and supply policy for the labour market will be coordinated. The coordinated policy will be implemented as a showcase. On the demand side of the labour market, measures will be taken to stimulate domestic and foreign investment: Politicians will be advised on innovative settlement strategies and regional economic development, and attractive promotional material for potential investors will be developed for the province. Training for business start-up consultants will promote the founding of new companies.

On the supply side, training will be modernised. This will happen by updating the curricula in vocational training schools, providing further training for teachers and developing teaching materials, such as for automotive mechatronics in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with BMW. As one of China’s pilot regions, the labour administration of Liaoning, with support from GIZ, has developed a comprehensive database for official unemployment figures, which had previously not included migrant workers. The data thus assists in finding job placements for the unemployed. Furthermore, GIZ advises its partners on issues such as social security contributions, employment agreement law and the employment of disadvantaged groups.

Results achieved so far

Nearly 2,000 executives of the provincial, prefecture and county authorities, as well as regional chambers and associations, have been trained on issues of regional economic policy and employment promotion and have brought this new knowledge to the national level. As an indirect result, the national government has adopted two programmes promoting regional economic development in Liaoning. Total investment is estimated at several hundred billion CNY and is also generating numerous orders for German companies.

A recently developed investment guide on CD ("Liaoning China Business Guide") has been given to 3,000 potential investors so far and, with 300 visitors per day, a bilingual website has become a popular source of information. This has created the impetus for more foreign investment in the province of Liaoning, which, in 2009 and despite the economic crisis, recorded 28.5% growth, the second highest of all provinces.

Through the cooperation of GIZ and BMW, new training content for automotive mechatronics has been implemented to correspond to the industry’s acute need for specialised workers. At the same time, further didactic and technical training of over 200 teachers in automotive mechatronics and CNC technology at vocational and technical schools has enabled them to give practical lessons themselves. The trainees of these teachers are in such demand from companies that almost all received job offers before their graduation.

In training measures for business start-up consultants, 129 specialists were trained and certified according to international quality standards. Every year, they now train and advise well over 60,000 young people so that they can best realise their business ideas as entrepreneurs.

In the five-year plan starting in 2011, official unemployment statistics will be expanded and refined. In conjunction with Chinese programmes to promote employment, the unemployment figures in Liaoning, as previously calculated, were reduced from 5.6% at the start of the programme in 2006 to 3.9% in 2009.

Further information

• Liaoning-German Business Cooperation
  www.liaoning-de.gov.cn