Fresh Faces

2014-06-05 15:04
Beijing Review 2014年21期

Migrant workers from the countryside at an electronics factory in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province.

The number of young migrant workers totaled 125.28 million in 2013, accounting for 65.5 percent of the rural work force born after 1980, according to a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics on May 12.

The report shows that young migrant workers are better educated and more willing to spend money than their parents and their generation. They prefer to work in bigger cities, with 54.9 percent seeking jobs in big and mediumsized cities, compared with 26 percent from the previous generation.

Graft Clampdown

Prosecutors in China have investigated 10,840 people suspected of involvement in bribery, corruption and embezzlement between January and March of this year, the Supreme Peoples Procuratorate (SPP) revealed at a press conference on May 15.

A total of 6,759 people were investigated for embezzling more than 100,000 yuan ($16,050) or taking bribes worth more than 50,000 yuan($8,025), accounting for 82.2 percent of all cases.

Some 661 people involved in corruption cases were officials at countylevel or above, accounting for 6.1 percent of all cases, according to the SPP.

Xu Jinhui, Director of the SPPs Anti-Corruption Bureau, said that the number of corruption cases in the first quarter of this year had risen 24 percent compared with last year and the num- ber of suspects involved in these cases had risen 19.8 percent.

Xu added that the number of cases involving officials at county-level or above had seen a 46.9-percent rise in the same period. The number of cases in which bribes exceeded 50,000 yuan or embezzlement reached 100,000 yuan had seen a rise of 26.9 percent.

The Communist Party of China launched a nationwide campaign, which is still ongoing, to crack down on corruption at the end of 2012.

Employment Incentives

Preferential policies will be granted to encourage college graduates to work at the community level or start businesses in a move to boost employment, the State Council, Chinas cabinet, announced on May 13.

Graduates that decide to work for the government at a community level will be provided with tuition compensation or a reduction in their student loan, the State Council said in a statement.

Small-sum guaranteed loans or subsidies will be given to new graduates to open online shops, it said. Small and micro-sized technology businesses will benefit from similar policies once they recruit a certain amount of college graduates.