The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), or China's legislature, began on Monday examination of the draft law on employment promotion for the first time .

"A law on employment promotion is urgently needed under the current situation," said Minister of Labor and Social Security Tian Chengping when briefing the Chinese lawmakers on the country's employment situation on Monday.

According to Tian, the employment situation at present and in a long period to come is not "optimistic". Statistics showed that at least 13 million new job opportunities need to be annually created in urban areas for laid-off workers, university graduates, demobilized servicemen, and migrant workers.

The draft law said China will implement coordinated employment policies in both urban and rural areas, so as to provide equal employment opportunities for the labor force.

The draft law prohibits discrimination against job seekers for their backgrounds of ethnicity, race, gender, religious belief, age, or physical disability.

The draft law requires governments above the county level to establish an early warning system to prevent, regulate and control possible cases of large-scale unemployment.

The draft law stipulates that government-run employment service agencies must provide free services to the labor force and are prohibited from commercial operations.

The draft law said staff members of the government's labor and social security departments who are found to have committed abuse of power, dereliction of duty or cheating will be held to account for criminal responsibilities or given disciplinary punishment.

The draft law said intermediary employment agencies not registered or approved by the labor and social security authorities and industrial and commercial authorities will be closed down and fined 10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan.

Employers who embezzled employees' education funds will be asked to correct their misdeed or held to account for criminal responsibilities according to severity.

Tian said "professional training for the labor force has lagged behind market demand."

The draft law has a special chapter on boosting professional training, requiring governments above the county level to support vocational schools, other professional training organizations and employers to launch pre-employment training, on-the-job training and reemployment training.

Governments above the county level should provide some professional training for students who fail to enter university or senior high school, so that they can grasp some skills and even obtain some occupational qualification certificates.

The draft law requires relevant departments to further increase financial investment in employment promotion, encourage enterprises and companies to recruit the unemployed, guide university graduates to work in under-developed areas, and make detailed research on the labor market.

By the end of 2005, a total of 760 million Chinese people got employed and the unemployment rate was controlled under 4.3 percent. During the 10th Five-Year Development Plan period (2000-2005), 42 million people in urban areas and 40 million migrant workers found jobs.

The three-day 26th session of the 10th NPC Standing Committee opened on Monday.

Lawmakers on Monday started deliberating a treaty, which defines the point where the national borders of China, Vietnam and Laos meet. The treaty, which was signed last October by the foreign ministries of the three countries, is expected to be passed at the legislative session.

Lawmakers also deliberated drafts of the agenda, name list of the presidium and secretary-general, and name list of non-voting delegates for the 10th NPC's fifth plenary session which will begin on March 5, as well as the draft annual work report of NPC Standing Committee.