CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Wednesday, June 30, 2021 | 5 CHINA Flexible employment helping stabilize job market State Council exploring provision of tecting their rights if they are hurt charge,” Song said. “Training cours- “Flexible employment has invigo- there were agencies contacting me, on the job. es and supporting policies are also rated the job market, showing its saying that they could make me an pensions and healthcare insurance “We’ve first streamlined adminis- available to these people.” great potential and advantages,” Li internet celebrity,” he said. “Finding trative procedures for individuals Li Zhong, vice-minister of human Yan, director of 58 Tongcheng a job last year was not that easy, but By CHENG SI 11 percentage points from 2019. selling agricultural products and resources and social security, told Recruitment Research Institute, the agencies can’t secure me a stable [email protected] “Starting their own businesses and daily supplies at officially approved the news conference that the gov- said in an interview with Economic income. I finally gave up the chance joining flexible employment are places,” Song said. “Financial sup- ernment is not only reducing limita- Information Daily. and sought a job as a teacher at a China will continue to channel important ways for people to get jobs port available to startup operators, tions on the development of flexible She said that flexible employment kindergarten.” more resources to promote flexible and earn more, which has also drawn and small and medium-sized enter- employment, but also creating more has expanded people’s job options Li Qiang, vice-president of Zhao- employment as it has played a key attention from the central govern- prises has also been improved.” flexible jobs for people and securing thanks to its flexible working time pin, an online recruitment platform, role in stabilizing the job market. ment, giving them continuous finan- He said secured loans to individu- their rights to gain pensions and and methods of employment. said that intensifying competition More than 200 million people are cial and policy support,” Song Xin, als planning to open businesses rose healthcare insurance. “It has also helped companies in finding jobs has made more peo- involved in flexible employment, an the ministry’s deputy director for to 200,000 yuan ($31,000) from the In the face of great employment reduce their labor costs and opti- ple, especially the young, join flexi- official from the Ministry of Human employment promotion, said at a previous 150,000 yuan, while the pressure, encouraging flexible mize their human resources struc- ble employment, but it needs Resources and Social Security said. news conference late last month. cap rose to 3 million yuan for small employment will continue to be an ture,” Li said. “Employers can match regulation and support from the Flexible employment has become He said the government is mak- and medium-sized companies. important way to help people land openings and job hunters faster and government. an important way for people to ing efforts to give more support to He said that government services jobs, especially those in key groups. more efficiently.” “Flexibly employed workers have increase their incomes, and also a flexibly employed workers. offering job information and help- According to the latest figures Xie Liang, a 24-year-old from concerns about their incomes, way of relieving employment pres- In May, a State Council executive ing incubate companies have also from the National Bureau of Statis- Qingdao, Shandong province, said insurance system and disadvanta- sure. meeting decided to further support been enhanced. tics, the 9.09 million college gradu- he once considered being a lives- ges in labor disputes as the law on According to a report by Renmin the development of flexible employ- “The ministry has set up over ates this year still largely face treaming anchor, but the uncertain flexible employment is not perfect- University of China in December, ment by exploring a pension system 8,800 incubation centers nation- difficulties landing jobs, though the future of the job and unstable ed yet,” he said. “Improving flexible around 56 percent of domestic com- and healthcare insurance for those wide for startups, with some of job market has continued to expand income deterred him. workers’ skills is also vital, which panies employ workers flexibly, up who are flexibly employed, and pro- them open to individuals free of this year. “I did livestreaming at college and can help them get a better career.” Inner Mongolia lake once Enter the graduate foul, but now flourishing A student from Mozambique per- forms a Chinese By Yuan HUI in Hohhot been a sharp decrease in the num- martial arts routine and HOU LIQIANG ber of mosquitoes, Zhang said. In at Taiyuan Universi- stark contrast, the number of birds ty of Technology in A black, odorous body of water has risen noticeably. Taiyuan, Shanxi that used to be dotted with dead fish Zhang, 52, said he remembers province, on Mon- in the Inner Mongolia autonomous white swans showing up at the lake day. The university’s region has been rejuvenated and is in “twos and threes” before the College of Interna- now a paradise for birds thanks to water quality turned bad. Currently, tional Education local authorities’ conservation however, they arrive in flocks. Exchange held a efforts. The protection of the Ulansuhai ceremony for 78 Photographer Qi Hongyan still Nur basin has been a matter of con- overseas students has vivid memories of a visit to cern for President Xi Jinping. who recently gradu- Ulansuhai Nur, the biggest lake in While deliberating with fellow ated. the Yellow River basin, almost a dec- deputies from Inner Mongolia at the WEI LIANG / ade ago. fourth session of the 13th National CHINA NEWS SERVICE “When the boat I was on cruised People’s Congress on March 5, Xi across the lake, the propeller stirred said he had issued directives about up black water,” he said. “I tried to the lake multiple times. make the water not look so black in There has been marked improve- my photo by adjusting the camera’s ment in the area, but persistent exposure, but I couldn’t.” efforts are still needed, he stressed. A bad smell engulfed the air, and According to local authorities, you could easily find dead fish float- over 260 bird species either live at ing around the lake’s shore, he add- the lake or rest there as they ed. migrate. Their number totals 6 mil- According to local authorities, the lion, but no previous figures are lake’s environment deteriorated due available for comparison because of to years of pollution from agricul- a lack of observation. tural, industrial and domestic waste Du Zhangui, director of the Ulan- water, with inadequate replenish- suhai Nur ecosystem protection ment of the lake water from the Yel- center, said that all the water in the low River making the situation even lake was previously below Grade V, List of medicines expanded for bulk-buy program grimmer. the lowest in the country’s water quality system. By WANG XIAOYU lion yuan a year,” he told news out- One example is Oxaliplatin, an Now, some of the parameters for [email protected] let ThePaper.cn. injection used to treat advanced Ulansuhai Nur water quality assessment in some China launched the national 25.5 colon cancer that is usually taken parts of the lake have reached as China plans to add a record 61 centralized procurement mecha- billion yuan twice a week. After being put on the high as Grade II, the second-highest types of medicine to its national nism in late 2018 as part of efforts Estimated amount of money list, its price dropped from 1,760 level, he added. bulk-buy program, with an average to alleviate the public’s medical that the new bulk-buy program yuan per dose to 310.5 yuan. According to local authorities, price cut of 56 percent, the coun- burdens. The mechanism asks could save patients in a year The preliminary list includes 251 Inner Mongolia aside from beefing up fertilizer and try’s drug procurement authority drugmakers to significantly cut pri- products from 148 pharmaceutical pesticide control at nearby farms, 11 said last week. ces to win bids for enrollment in companies, including 10 foreign- sewage treatment plants have been The range of medicines involved large-volume procurement led by tions, commonly used for inten- funded enterprises. built in the area as part of the local is also unprecedented, covering the government. sive care and treatment of serious Gong said the increasing num- CHINA DAILY government’s efforts to prevent pol- products for common chronic ill- Since then, five rounds of the symptoms at hospitals, account for ber of foreign companies on the list lutants from entering the lake. A nesses such as high blood pressure, program have been rolled out, about half of the list and 70 per- means that many costly imported But when Qi, 64, recently revisit- 60-square-kilometer wetland has coronary diseases and diabetes, as including the most recent one that cent of the estimated market val- drugs will be affordable for the ed the lake in Urad Front Banner, also been created to help purify well as multiple cancers, according wrapped up in Shanghai last week. ue. public and the domestic market is Bayannuur League, what he saw left water before it enters Ulansuhai to a preliminary list released by the A total of 218 types of medicines Ding Yilei, an official at the becoming more appealing to for- him stunned. Nur. nation’s centralized drug procure- have been listed so far, involving National Healthcare Insurance eign drugmakers.