GUANGZHOU: Leading government officials of the affluent southern province of Guangdong has promised that the province will make its utmost efforts to let everyone be covered with social insurance.

Zhang Dejiang, Party secretary of Guangdong, said at a recent working conference with social security officials that a sound social insurance system is of great importance to help narrow the gap between rural and urban residents.

Currently, 9.73 million and 4.28 million people in rural areas of Guangdong have been covered with medical and unemployment insurances, respectively.

In urban areas, the province has 18.86 million and 12.41 million people covered with medical and unemployment insurances, respectively, ranking the first on the mainland.

"A social security system covering both rural and urban people will also help boost sustainable social and economic development," said Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua.

To develop a comprehensive employment insurance system, Guangdong, one of China's economic powerhouses, has developed a sound vocational training system over recent years.

Since 2002, the province has organized a series of vocational training activities, benefiting more than 9 million people.

At present, the province has a total of 215 vocational schools, with more than 400,000 students. And by the end of last year, the province has a registered number of 7.77 million skilled workers.

Retired soldiers have also been given an access to education, enjoying two-year free training in vocational schools.

In another development, the province has added 5.48 million new jobs since 2002, accounting for nearly one tenth of the mainland's total.

In 2004, Guangdong introduced a special employment law, to aid people from "zero-employment" families better find a job. As of September this year, 32,698 people from such families have obtained new jobs.

Besides employment, the province has also made rapid development in medical insurances.

Experimental work on medical insurance for rural residents has been carried out in six cities of Meizhou, Huizhou, Jieyang, Zhanjiang, Shaoguan and Zhaoqing since last month, covering around 6.9 million people.

(HK Edition 10/20/2007 page6)