Causes and Countermeasures of Unemployment in China

"Always representing the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people" is the goal of our party's unremitting struggle in various historical stages. Judging from China's current basic national conditions, to represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, obviously, an important embodiment is to represent the interests of the broad masses of farmers who account for 65% of the country's total population and do everything possible to improve their economic income and quality of life. However, the reality before us is that farmers' unemployment is becoming more and more serious, and the growth rate of farmers' economic income has been declining for many years. Therefore, it is an urgent and arduous task for our party to change this situation.

First of all, analyze the reasons for farmers' unemployment.

A considerable number of people in our country think that unemployment is only a problem faced by urban residents. Since the implementation of the household contract responsibility system in rural areas, farmers have been given a piece of land to farm freely and support themselves, so there is no real unemployment. Accordingly, most local governments are mainly concerned about the unemployment of urban residents, and the unemployment of farmers has become a blind spot in many people's eyes. However, a large number of facts show that this view is only an unrealistic and irresponsible view for farmers, because since the middle and late 1990s, the long-standing problem of agricultural labor surplus in China has gradually evolved into an increasingly serious problem of farmers' unemployment. Systematic research on this issue can be found in the following aspects:

(1) Natural resource endowment is weakened. This is the root cause of farmers' unemployment, which is reflected in the land issue.

1, the amount of land is gradually decreasing. According to relevant data, the per capita agricultural arable land in China is rapidly decreasing. At present, nationwide, the per capita arable land of farmers in China is nearly 1.3 mu, which is only about a quarter of the world average. Moreover, due to various reasons, the cultivated land is decreasing at the rate of 5-7 million mu per year. On the other hand, the rural labor force is increasing rapidly from 1000 to130,000 per year. According to the research of relevant experts, this rising trend of rural labor force will continue until 2025. Regionally, the cultivated land in some major agricultural provinces is also decreasing rapidly. For example, Hunan Province, as a big agricultural province, had only 0.76 mu of cultivated land per capita by199, which was lower than the world land warning line standard of 0.8 mu of cultivated land per capita, and the phenomenon of "abandoning wasteland" was serious.

2. The trend of land quality weakening. At present, the function of agricultural land in China is weakening. First of all, China belongs to the continental monsoon climate zone, and natural disasters such as drought, flood and hail are relatively frequent. Secondly, for a long time, China's tilted policy of "industry subsidizing agriculture" has led to low agricultural input and weak infrastructure for agriculture to resist natural disasters. Thirdly, due to the household contract responsibility system in rural areas, most of the water conservancy infrastructure used in rural areas was built by large groups before the early 1980 s, and the facilities were seriously aging. However, there is widespread ideological neglect in the future, especially organizational and financial difficulties. Fourthly, the "Great Leap Forward" and the disorderly economic development for a long time later caused serious damage to the ecological environment of China, which further aggravated the frequency and intensity of agricultural natural disasters. These factors weaken the function of disaster prevention and avoidance of cultivated land in China, and the situation of agricultural natural resources is gradually deteriorating.

Land is the foundation of agriculture and the lifeblood of farmers. The sharp decline in the quantity and quality of land has increased the risk of farmers engaging in agriculture, and the vested income and expected income of land have decreased. This has laid a heavy foreshadowing for the emergence of peasant unemployment.

(2) The policies and legal systems are unreasonable and imperfect. The purpose of national and local policies and laws on agriculture, rural areas and farmers should be how to promote the development of agriculture and how to safeguard the fundamental interests of the broad peasant class. However, for a long time, this goal of relevant laws and policies has been discounted to varying degrees, and some local policies and regulations have even gone to the opposite side. It is embodied in the unreasonable policy of "light agriculture and heavy industry" and the extreme imperfection of corresponding laws and regulations. This is the catalytic factor that leads to the unemployment of farmers.

1, a series of policies of "light agriculture and heavy industry". For a long time, due to various reasons, China has implemented a typical unreasonable policy system of "emphasizing industry over agriculture". Specifically, it mainly includes the following aspects: First, the "dedication" agricultural policy. For example, the "dedication" price policy, that is, the value of agricultural products is transferred through the "scissors difference" price method. Another example is the "dedication" fiscal policy, that is, the state has long implemented the ultra-low agricultural input policy. The second is the "neglected" peasant policy. For a long time, China's policies towards farmers have been neglected economically to varying degrees. This phenomenon mainly includes two aspects: policy neglect and administrative neglect. As a policy negligence, the first is the "dual" social welfare security system that has been implemented for a long time. There is a huge gap between urban and rural areas in terms of welfare level, scope of protection and state investment. Second, agricultural workers have other financial and credit policies. The third is the "non-national treatment" of farmers in culture and education. About management negligence. This mainly refers to some local governments and executive departments' discount and flexibility in implementing the central policy on agriculture, countryside and farmers, especially the policy of reducing farmers' burden, which is manifested in three major phenomena: first, the "triple phenomenon", that is, "talking about importance, being busy and not doing it"; The second is "countermeasure phenomenon", that is, "there are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom"; The third is the phenomenon of "four chaos", that is, "arbitrary apportionment, arbitrary charges, arbitrary fund-raising and arbitrary fines".

2. The legal system of agriculture, rural areas and farmers is not perfect. So far, China's laws and regulations on agriculture, countryside and farmers are still far from perfect. In agriculture. At present, although there are some national and local laws and regulations, such as agricultural law, the laws and regulations on how to protect and develop agriculture under the new situation are basically blank. For example, how to feed agriculture with industry, how to help and protect agriculture after China's entry into WTO, and how to effectively use science and technology to develop agriculture. , is still only a sporadic policy, did not rise to the height of the law. As far as farmers are concerned. So far, there is no law about farmers in China. In China, farmers are the biggest vulnerable group in China, but how to protect and help farmers is seriously lagging behind in legislation. In rural areas. For example, the construction and improvement of rural public welfare facilities and infrastructure, the scale and proportion of investment, etc. There is also a lack of corresponding legal norms and constraints.

(3) Employment transfer channels are very limited.

1, shrinking traditional channels. (1) The ability of township enterprises to absorb rural surplus labor force is obviously weakened. For a long time in the past, township enterprises were the most important employment transfer channel for rural surplus labor. However, in recent years, due to the general structural adjustment and reorganization since 1997, the number of rural surplus labor absorbed by township enterprises has shown an obvious and sustained downward trend. (2) The employment situation in the southeast coast is obviously tense. It goes without saying that the developed labor-intensive processing industries in Guangdong and other places have made great contributions to the employment of farmers in Sichuan, Hunan, Anhui and other populous provinces. However, in recent two years, due to the influx of college graduates and the upgrading of the industrial structure of enterprises, it has become increasingly difficult for farmers to find jobs in coastal areas.

2. Emerging channels with many problems. In recent years, in order to cope with the huge rural surplus labor force, some new employment channels have emerged, such as employment in different places in agriculture, employment in infrastructure projects, and employment in labor export. But there are various problems in these channels. First, the quantity is limited. So far, the types and quantity of these channels are very limited, and the number of employed people is also very small. For example, China, as a country with a large agricultural population, is not as good as Indian 10%(2000). Second, the channels are not smooth. As far as agricultural employment in different places (mainly inland farmers go to developed areas such as the southeast coast to engage in agricultural management) and employment in infrastructure projects (that is, farmers participate in various national and local infrastructure projects), information is generally invalid; In the export of labor services, there are generally different degrees of protection for the basic rights and interests of workers, and the corresponding laws and management are obviously lagging behind.

Due to the above reasons, coupled with the increasing number of "black hukou" who have grown up without land, especially the long-standing phenomenon of excessive burden on farmers, the problem of surplus rural labor force, which existed as early as the implementation of the rural household contract responsibility system, has gradually turned into an increasingly serious unemployment problem for farmers.

Of course, it is really difficult to accurately count the unemployment of farmers in China at present. But on the whole, it can be said that the problem of farmers' unemployment in China not only exists, but also shows a serious trend in recent years.

Second, the basic ideas to solve the problem of farmers' unemployment

The problem of farmers' unemployment is the result of various subjective and objective factors for a long time. Among them, some institutions and departments pay attention to the "three rural" policies because of their thoughts and work style, which is an important subjective factor. Therefore, to solve the current problem of farmers' unemployment, our cadres and leaders need to seriously study the spirit of General Secretary Jiang's "1 July" speech and the resolution of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee, carefully understand the special exposition on "agriculture, countryside and farmers" made by General Secretary Jiang at the Fifth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress in March 2002, and earnestly strengthen the construction of ideological style and work style. On this basis, this year, we should actively cooperate with the State Council and the CPC Central Committee, attach great importance to and actively take effective measures to gradually solve the problem of farmers' unemployment in order to increase farmers' income and broaden farmers' employment channels. Specifically, we should focus on solving the following four major problems at present:

(1) "brain" problem. The so-called "brain" problem is to solve the ideological and cognitive problems of "agriculture, countryside and farmers". This is the first question. The realistic problems and grim situation require our cadres to deepen their understanding of the importance and urgency of the "three rural issues", especially the farmers' issues.

First, we should look at the "three rural issues" comprehensively. Our cadres, especially grass-roots cadres, should emancipate their minds, seek truth from facts, and look at the "three rural issues" comprehensively. We should really understand General Secretary Jiang's exposition on "agriculture, countryside and farmers" in March 2002: "Agriculture, rural areas and farmers are the primary issues related to the overall situation of reform, opening up and modernization. Agriculture is thriving, and all industries are thriving; When farmers are rich, the country is also rich; The countryside is stable and the world is stable. " At present, this problem is not only an urgent task in the process of China's modernization, but also the biggest problem for us to achieve a well-off society in an all-round way.

Second, we should look at the "three rural issues" from a development perspective. Since the reform for more than 20 years, especially in the middle and early 1980s, the living standards of farmers have indeed been significantly improved. However, today, we should see that the gap between farmers' income and other classes is widening, and farmers have become the biggest vulnerable group in China. We should also see the rationality that agriculture and farmers who have made great contributions to China's industrial development and urban construction since the founding of the People's Republic of China are now receiving industrial feedback and compensation; We should also see that the backward "agriculture, countryside and farmers" are gradually becoming a major obstacle to the development and stability of China.

Third, look at the issues concerning agriculture, countryside and farmers from the viewpoint of Theory of Three Represents. The foothold of "Theory of Three Represents" is that our party should represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. We must truly represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. At present, the biggest manifestation is to safeguard the fundamental interests of the peasant class with the largest number and the most miserable life. Therefore, our cadres should truly establish the idea of caring for and helping farmers in an all-round way from the height of "Theory of Three Represents" and from the height of the party's nature and purpose. While strengthening the construction of ideological style, we should resolutely change the simple and rude working methods of farmers' ideological work, and insist on being integrated with farmers and communicating more; Proceed from reality and the fundamental interests of farmers, put an end to the "four chaos" behavior, and refrain from short-term behavior and engage in "image engineering" less.

(2) the "path" problem. The so-called "path" problem is the basic path to solve the unemployment of farmers. This is a problem that must be solved seriously in practice. Naturally, the specific path should be different in different regions and different situations. But the general approach should be to "channel resources and suppress the source".

The so-called "diversion" is to gradually alleviate and solve the problem of farmers' re-employment through different ways and paths and according to the different conditions of farmers. Its basic principles and trends are: agricultural industrialization, farmers' urbanization and rural urbanization. There are basically three directions: (1) Transfer employment nearby. This is the main direction of reemployment of unemployed farmers. All localities, grass-roots governments and departments should strive to build an optimal allocation mechanism for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, that is, a mechanism to rationally allocate regional elements according to the characteristics and advantages of rural natural resources, population quality and traffic conditions in this region. On this basis, on the premise of land capitalization, establish a reasonable land transfer system, so that limited land can be concentrated in the hands of some farmers with agricultural technology and certain funds, so that they can operate on a certain agricultural scale; Taking "fame, novelty, uniqueness and Excellence" as the standard and agricultural science and technology as the means, we will vigorously optimize the structure of agricultural products; Take "leading" enterprises as the leading factor and urbanization as the opportunity to integrate township enterprises; Vigorously develop agricultural products deep processing enterprises, tertiary industry and small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, it will provide more employment opportunities for local farmers. (2) Transfer employment in different places. This is an important form of farmers' re-employment, which mainly includes two situations: farmers working in cities and farming from backward rural areas to developed areas. Judging from the current situation, the number of the former is already very large, and the latter has also begun to appear. The state and local governments should make great efforts in the following two aspects: First, strengthen management. Cultivate and develop the specialized farmers' labor market, establish and improve the national unified information-based farmers' labor intermediary service organization, and even establish the service institutions sent by the governments of the two places to effectively reduce the blindness of farmers going out to work. Second, open up new fields of employment. On the basis of urban expansion, we can vigorously develop urban agriculture, sightseeing agriculture and other characteristic agriculture in the suburbs, thus attracting more farmers' employment. (3) International labor export. This is an effective supplementary form for farmers' re-employment. China is the country with the largest number of farmers in the world, and it has a comparative advantage in the labor force. At present, the labor export of India and other populous countries accounts for about 15% of the total foreign exchange earned, while China currently accounts for less than 1%, so the labor export potential is huge. However, while expanding the export of labor services, the state should especially strengthen tracking and supporting management, improve relevant laws, and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers; In addition, the relevant departments should strengthen the cultural and skills training for these farmers to improve their quality.

The so-called "source suppression" refers to the suppression and control of agricultural population from the source. In the long run, this is the fundamental measure to solve the problem of farmers' unemployment. Today, the problem of farmers' unemployment is so severe that one of the important reasons is that a large number of rural super children have grown up since the 1980s. On the basis of the original family planning experience, the state and local governments should intensify research, speed up system innovation and put an end to the phenomenon of "super guerrillas". (1) Guide farmers to have fewer children voluntarily. Here is mainly to vigorously promote and improve the rural social security system. The specific contents include: first, vigorously expand the rural collective economy and establish a pension system for farmers; Second, establish and improve the farmers' insurance system, mainly including medical insurance and endowment insurance system; The third is to gradually establish fixed long-term institutions such as welfare nursing homes and elderly activity rooms, and do a good job in management. Let farmers gradually establish a new concept of "providing for the aged" and gradually dilute the traditional concept of "having more children and more happiness". (2) Restrain farmers from having more children. Obviously, the popular methods of forced abortion and fines are out of date. This method is now in the stage of diminishing marginal positive utility and increasing marginal negative influence. Therefore, we must strengthen institutional innovation. This kind of innovation should reach or approach such a goal: through civilized, supporting and compulsory system constraints, people who have more children (relative to those who have children according to regulations) are forced to pay more costs now and in the future and get less benefits.

(3) The question of "tickets". That is, to solve the problem of funds needed for farmers' unemployment. Solving the problem of farmers' unemployment is a huge "systematic project", in which the capital problem is the key problem that must be solved. Party committees and governments at all levels should establish and make full use of the "three rural green box policy". The so-called "green box policy for agriculture, countryside and farmers" is the basic policy to protect, help and promote the sustainable development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers financially. Specifically, there are three basic policy directions to solve the funding problem:

1. Vigorously increase state input. That is, change the agricultural dedication policy into the agricultural feedback policy, effectively increase the state's investment in agriculture, and vigorously strengthen the construction of agricultural infrastructure. Judging from the current situation, no matter according to the historical situation or international practice, China's investment in agriculture still has a lot of room for upward adjustment. To increase state investment, there are mainly the following aspects: (1) increase the financial budget of the state and local governments. By increasing financial input, we will strengthen the construction of rural public goods and infrastructure such as electricity, water conservancy and transportation, and increase investment in tackling key problems in agricultural science and technology and transforming agricultural scientific and technological achievements into real agricultural productivity. (2) Increase the government's policy subsidies to agriculture. At present, according to the calculation method stipulated by WTO, the total amount of comprehensive agricultural support in China is less than 5%, which is far lower than other countries, especially developed countries. At present, the United States, Japan and other developed countries continue to subsidize their own agriculture, and China must actually increase subsidies for agriculture. This subsidy should be multifaceted. For example, the state can give agricultural products a wider price support policy; Agricultural credit companies directly under the government can be established to provide all-round financial and credit support for farmers engaged in agriculture. (3) Increase the capital supply of state-owned commercial banks to agriculture. The key here is institutional innovation. We should establish and improve agricultural credit guarantee institutions as soon as possible, vigorously develop agricultural loan insurance business, and remove credit obstacles for commercial banks to enter agriculture, rural areas and farmers. At present, farmers' micro-credit loans should be steadily promoted on the basis of improving the supporting system. Here, we should give full play to the role of China Agricultural Development Bank and rural credit cooperatives.

2. Actively encourage private investment. That is, the state attracts and encourages private funds to invest in agriculture through macro policies. At present, the national resident deposits have reached 8 trillion RMB, so this is a potential field. National and local governments should play the role of a competent maker and drummer. (1) Do a good job in environmental construction, establish and improve relevant policies and legal systems as soon as possible, and create a good environment for private investment in agriculture. Through this environment, the rights and obligations of these investors are strongly protected, private capital enjoys national treatment, and they have the opportunity to obtain profits not lower than the social average. This is the most effective means to attract private investment, and it is also the primary task of national and local governments. (2) Guide management innovation. For private capital, the state should guide it to combine with advanced financial management paradigm; The state should guide it to combine with advanced agricultural productivity and avoid its sunset agricultural project management.

3. Strive to attract foreign investment. That is, attracting foreign investment into China's agriculture. China has joined the World Trade Organization, and we should make full use of this opportunity. We should vigorously develop and explore existing multilateral and bilateral channels for utilizing foreign capital. (1) Focus on introducing direct investment from multinational companies. The investment projects of multinational companies are generally large in scale, which can bring the most advanced technology, management experience and export market. (2) Vigorously develop international security financing. For example, agricultural high-tech enterprises can be used to engage in overseas direct listing or shell listing; On the other hand, we should make full use of our own advanced agricultural technology, directly seek the cooperation of foreign funds, and learn from the current international advanced financing methods such as BOT.

(4) The problem of "flogging". In other words, the spur, incentive and supervision mechanisms needed to implement a series of central policies on agriculture, countryside and farmers include supervision, rewards and punishments. Judging from the phenomenon of "farmers' burden reduction and rebound", a scientific and effective "farmer burden reduction supervision mechanism" should be established as soon as possible. The so-called "supervision mechanism of reducing farmers' burden" is also the establishment, implementation and supervision mechanism of policies and laws to reduce farmers' burden. This is a necessary condition for the central government to truly and comprehensively implement a series of policies to support agriculture and finally turn "administrative neglect" into real attention.

In terms of policy, what should be emphasized at present is: First, effectively increase the intensity of rewards and punishments. In particular, it is necessary to increase the punishment for those who violate the "three rural" policies and consider implementing a real "one-vote veto system" like violating the family planning policy. Under normal circumstances, violators must be subject to greater economic penalties, and in that year, they shall not be awarded awards such as evaluation and promotion; Causing serious consequences, regardless of other achievements, will be dismissed on the spot. Moreover, it is absolutely impossible to demote and dismiss today and promote in different places tomorrow, as in some places. The second is to effectively strengthen supervision and inspection. Straighten out the bottom-up and top-down channels of supervision and inspection. From the bottom up, we should pay attention to reporting information and keep it confidential; Check from top to bottom, no distortion, no going through the motions.

In terms of law, the first is to strengthen legislation. On the basis of the agricultural law, the relevant regulations and notices of the central government, and in combination with the current tax and fee reform, the farmers' burden law will be formulated as soon as possible. Clarify the burden subject, management organization and law enforcement subject of farmers' burden; Clarify the reasonable scope and amount of farmers' burden. So as to truly solve the problem of farmers' burden. The second is to improve law enforcement. The party and government should vigorously improve the quality of law enforcers, so that law enforcers are brave and good at law enforcement; At the same time, strengthen publicity and education, strive to improve the legal awareness of grassroots cadres, departmental cadres and farmers, and truly realize the problem of farmers' burden of strict law enforcement and openness. The third is to strengthen supervision. The supervision function of the people's congress and the government, especially the higher-level government, should be further strengthened; We can consider setting up a special court in the people's court to deal with cases of farmers' burden and effectively strengthen the judicial supervision function; In addition, we should give full play to the function of public opinion supervision. So as to truly realize the problem of farmers' burden.