APPENDIX
8.
145
•
UNEMPLOYMENT
REGULATIONS.
PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
STATE ADMINISTRATION COUNCIL DIRECTIVL ON RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYED WORKERS.
(1) 400,000,000 catties of foodstuffs will be set aside from the current national budget as relief funds, the use of which will be decided by the Ministry of Labour of the People's Central Government and the ll China Federation of Labour.
(2) In areas where relief work is undertaken, the administrative side or the employer of all national and private enterprises and 11 workers and employees shall make a monthly contribution towards medical funds for the unemployed. The rates of contribution will be fixed in the "Provisional Measures for the Relief of Unemployed Workers". Local People's Govern- ments shall in addition allocate a special sum for relief purposes.
(3) The principal method of relief is through purchase of Government Bonds. Supplementary methods include (a) enabling the unemployed to help themselves through production; (b) training the unemployed for new occupations; (c) sending. them to their native places where they can do production work; (d) giving them relief allowances. Relief funds spent on these measures will not only alleviate the distress of the unemployed, but will also prove useful to municipal reconstruction.
(4) Unemployment is most serious in Shanghai, Nanking, Wuhan, Chungking and Canton. Committees for the Relief of Unemployed Workers and Relief Administrations should be set up immediately in these places. to work out plans and bedgets which shall be presented to the State Administration Council for ratification. Funds requirid will be raised by the above- mentioned cities themselves and the Central Government will also contribute from its relief funds. Other cities which are faced with the necessity of sponsoring relief work will raise their own funds according to Article 2 of this Directive, and if there is a deficiency may ask the State Administration Council for a subsidy.
(5) All cities sponsoring relief work shall act in accordance with the "Provisional Measures for the Relief of Unemployed workers" promulgated by the State Administrative Council. Where modifications must be introduced in special circumstances, they shall first be ratified by the State Administration Council.
(6) In order to place unemployed workers and to facilitate their change of occupation, all national and private enterprises should give priority to disengaged workers and employees of the same trade when they return to normal produc- tion or when they expand and start new factories. Where new workers and employees are wanted, they should in principle be supplied by the Labour Exchange of the local Labour Bureau. Details concerning this point will be given separately.
CHOU EN-LAI,
17th June, 1950.