China has moved to build a database to help ex-convicts have improved access to employment and social insurance, part of the country's drive to maintain social stability by preventing ex-convicts from committing crimes for a second time.

The database, which collects employment information on ex-convicts, will help inform authorities, employers and enterprises if ex-convicts have yet to be settled or are looking for a job, according to a government official attending a national conference held here Tuesday on the resettlement and education of ex-convicts.

The network is already under construction, according to the official from the Ministry of Justice, who requested anonymity. He also said a date to complete the construction of the database has not been fixed.

The database will ensure mutual communication and the efficient information flow among prisons, re-education-through-labor camps, detention centers, communities and ex-convicts' families, he added.

Ex-convicts face more difficulties than other people in both work and life since they had been separated from society during their prison terms, Wu Aiying, minister of Justice, said Tuesday.

Wu called on authorities to take care of ex-convicts' living standards and "seriously implement" national policies with regard to ex-convicts ' employment, pensions and health insurance.

China has more than 9.7 million companies, yet fewer than 5,000 enterprises nationwide have become qualified employers of ex-convicts, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2010)