Enhance legal support for high-quality employment

Editor's note: Employment is a priority for improving livelihoods. China Daily spoke to Ban Xiaohui, an associate professor at the School of Law, Wuhan University, on how strengthened legal protection can help realize this goal. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

In practice, nonmarket factors still constrain labor mobility and job matching efficiency, limiting individual development opportunities and weakening overall resource allocation. Improving rule-of-law safeguards for employment therefore requires strengthening the enforceability of the principle of equal employment, refining anti-discrimination rules, clarifying legal liabilities and raising the penalties for violations.

Meanwhile, fair competition review mechanisms should be further advanced and institutional barriers that hinder labor mobility should be removed in accordance with the law. By ensuring unified rules and equal opportunities, employment outcomes can better reflect individual capability and contribution, thereby boosting worker confidence and market vitality.

Safeguarding employment must remain centered on workers' rights and firmly uphold legal standards. Laws relating to basic labor standards should clearly define minimum wages, working hours, rest and leave, and occupational safety and health as universally applicable and nonnegotiable legal baselines. This will prevent the hidden erosion of labor conditions amid intensified competition and the emergence of flexible employment.

Also, social security systems should be further improved and better aligned with the emerging forms of employment. Legislative and institutional innovation should be advanced to clarify responsibilities, rights and remedies in flexible employment. At the same time, the use of algorithms in workforce management and income distribution should be regulated to ensure that technological progress does not come at the expense of labor rights.

The rule of law should be used to improve the alignment between labor supply and industrial demand. Structural employment challenges largely stem from mismatches between skills profiles of workers and the needs of industrial upgrading. Strengthening rule-of-law safeguards for employment requires a more stable institutional framework for vocational skills development and lifelong learning. This includes strengthening legislation on vocational education and skills training, standardizing skills assessment and certification, improving training quality and transparency and investing more in human capital development.

There should also be incentives to encourage enterprises to adopt remuneration and promotion systems based on skills and performance, ensuring reasonable returns on investment in training and fostering positive interaction among workers, enterprises and industries.

Law-based governance mechanisms should be strengthened to enhance employment stability and the capacity to respond to risks. Amid economic fluctuations, population aging and the rapid advance of artificial intelligence, employment risks have become more diverse. Promoting employment requires not only addressing traditional cyclical challenges but also managing job displacement and structural adjustments driven by technological change.

Employment monitoring and early-warning systems also need improvement, with greater attention to AI applications and digital transformation, as well as to key industries, regions and groups. Technology governance should follow an employment-friendly approach, guiding AI development to improve efficiency while supporting job transitions, and avoiding excessive disruption in employment stability. In addition, labor dispute resolution mechanisms should be strengthened, enforcement efforts intensified and employment risks kept within manageable bounds through institutionalized and routine governance arrangements.