How to improve the job market

More than 20 percent of the university graduates who responded to a recent survey said that they had "pulled strings" to get a job. The fact that young people are using family connections to get a job shows how difficult the job market has become, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

Finding "an ideal job" is much more difficult than just finding a job. Despite the intense competition in the job market, graduates still try to get employment in State-owned enterprises (SOEs), government departments and the civil service because very few are willing to work at the grassroots level.

Many people classify jobs as good or bad on the basis of the perks and welfare benefits that come with them. Even though there are no rules to judge a job as low or noble, many university graduates try desperately to be part of SOEs, because they ensure stability and are considered prestigious.

This has created an imbalance between the number of candidates for government jobs and the available vacancies, and prompted many graduates to use their family connections to curry favor in the job market.

The sorry state of affairs can be blamed on inadequate career and social development. Without promising prospects and basic security, even some important posts cannot attract talents. If university graduates, the most valued social talent pool, deviate from the right track, they will not only harm individual development, but also lead to a waste of social resources.

Employment can be streamlined if the institutional gap is eliminated, more policy support is given to newly emerged sectors and higher education is reformed to match market needs and social development.

Making manholes safe

The local government in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has paid a premium of 100,000 yuan ($16,320) to a commercial insurance company to insure up to 100,000 manhole covers. The move will not only solve a nagging problem for the local government, but also ensure that manholes don't become a safety hazard for lack of covers and victims of accidents get proper compensation, says an article on gmw.cn. Excerpts:

Many people have fallen into open manholes in Chinese cities in recent years, and some of these accidents have ended in fatalities. For quite a few years, local governments have been trying to find ways to prevent such accidents. Now Yinchuan has come up with an innovative solution, which is really praiseworthy and deserves to be emulated by other cities.

Since compensation for victims of such accidents is usually not included in a city's financial budget, only small sums can be paid as damages to them or their relatives (in case of deaths). But in Yinchuan, the insurance of manholes will ensure that missing (or stolen) manholes covers are replaced in time and accident victims (or their relatives) get appropriate compensation.

But attention should also be paid to another problem, which at first glance may not appear serious. Once the manhole covers are insured, it becomes the insurance company's responsibility to ensure that manhole covers are not stolen and accident victims are adequately compensated. But given such an arrangement and the likelihood of the number of accidents increasing, an insurance company could become reluctant to pay appropriate compensation to victims or renew insurance contracts.

Therefore, even after manhole covers are insured, it should be made clear that the onus for accidents is on local governments.

(China Daily 06/04/2013 page9)