BEIJING – In a major move to address long-standing divides in China’s labor market and unlock inclusive growth, three central government departments jointly published new policy guidelines on Wednesday that outline a comprehensive package of reforms to integrate urban and rural employment systems, enable smoother two-way worker mobility, and break down barriers between segmented urban and rural labor sectors.
Released through a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the new framework sets a core goal of delivering high-quality, full employment for workers across both urban and rural regions of the country.
The policy suite targets five key priority areas: expanding accessible employment opportunities, building public employment services that guarantee equal access for all workers regardless of residential background, rebalancing the distribution of vocational training resources, strengthening protections for fundamental worker rights, and expanding targeted support for vulnerable jobseekers.
To expand local job opportunities closer to rural communities, the guidelines call for growing employment offerings at the county and township levels. The policy specifically highlights untapped employment potential in consumer-facing sectors, including cultural tourism, the creator (debut) economy, ice-and-snow leisure economy, and inbound tourism. It also prioritizes the creation of grassroots-level positions tailored to young jobseekers, particularly new graduates from colleges and universities.
To reduce information and service gaps between regions, local administrative bodies are urged to develop balanced, easy-to-access employment service networks that span both urban and rural areas. The guidelines also encourage enhanced cross-regional labor matching and public information sharing, alongside formal policy support for skilled urban workers who wish to launch businesses or secure employment in rural regions.
On the skills development front, the framework proposes a new integrated vocational training model, alongside a policy change to relax age restrictions for enrollment at vocational technical schools, a move designed to open up skills training opportunities to more rural young people.
For the large population of rural migrant workers employed in urban centers, the guidelines place strong emphasis on upholding core labor and social rights. Key commitments include ensuring equitable access to childcare and compulsory education for migrant workers’ children, raising the share of migrant children enrolled in urban public schools, and expanding coverage of the national housing provident fund scheme to include more migrant workers. Eligible cities are also encouraged to add qualified migrant workers to local housing assistance programs, reducing the financial burden of urban relocation.
For disadvantaged jobseekers facing structural barriers to employment, the guidelines strengthen existing targeted employment assistance programs. Particular focus is placed on supporting workers at risk of falling back into poverty, with provisions to better leverage existing urban and rural social safety net policies to prevent joblessness from leading to economic hardship.
The policy sets a clear 5-year implementation timeline aligned with China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period, which runs from 2026 to 2030. By the end of the period, authorities aim to fully smooth cross-sector employment channels, rebalance access to employment services and training resources between urban and rural areas, and build a far more equitable national employment environment. These changes are designed to not only achieve the core goal of high-quality full employment but also underpin broader high-quality economic and social development across the country.