II. Legal System for Human Resources Development

Adhering to the strategy based on the rule of law, China actively promotes democratic and scientific legislation to provide legal security for the fair and equal rights of individual development for everyone, and the scientific development of human resources. Through years of development, China has established a human resources development legal system with the Constitution as the essential basis, the Labor Law and the Civil Servant Law as the foundation, the Labor Contract Law, the Employment Promotion Law, and the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes as the main contents, and other separate laws and administrative regulations as major components.

Legal system for promoting employment

To achieve the goal of expanding and stabilizing employment, China promulgated the Labor Law of the People' s Republic of China in 1994, which expressly states that the state strives to create job opportunities and expand employment through promoting economic and social development. The Employment Promotion Law of the People' s Republic of China adopted in 2007 has laid down the principle of "independent job-seeking by workers, employment based on market forces and the promotion of employment by the government," requiring the building of a government responsibility system for promoting employment, the implementing of industry, investment, finance and taxation policies favorable for boosting employment, making an overall plan for balanced employment between urban and rural areas, in various regions and among different social groups. According to this Employment Promotion Law the state will establish an unemployment precaution system, improve the public employment service, vocational training and employment aid systems. The enforcement of these laws has greatly facilitated the interaction between economic development and employment promotion.

The state ensures that workers in China enjoy the rights of equal employment and independent job-seeking in accordance with the law. Since 1988 China has promulgated the Law of the People' s Republic of China for the Protection of Disabled Persons, Law of the People' s Republic of China for the Protection of Women' s Rights and Interests, Law of the People' s Republic of China for the Protection of Minors, Regulations Concerning the Labor Protection of Female Staff and Workers, Provisions Concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Child Labor, Regulations on the Employment of the Disabled, and other laws and administrative regulations. The Employment Promotion Law has a special chapter on equal employment, which stipulates that no employees shall be discriminated against on the grounds of ethnicity, race, gender and religion, and specially provides that rural employees working in cities should enjoy the same labor rights as urban employees.

The state also promotes vocational education and training through legislation. Since 1995 China has promulgated the Education Law of the People' s Republic of China, Vocational Education Law of the People' s Republic of China, Law of the People' s Republic of China on Promotion of Privately-run Schools and similar laws, and has established a vocational education and training mechanism on the principle of "the market guiding training, and training promoting employment." Based on vocational education institutions and training organizations at various levels, China has improved multi-form and multi-level vocational education, and formed a vocational education and training system connecting education at various levels, and linking vocational education with general education.

Proactive efforts have been made by the state to standardize the management of professional and technical staff. Since 1993 China has promulgated the Teachers Law of the People' s Republic of China, Law of the People' s Republic of China on Medical Practitioners, Law of the People' s Republic of China on Lawyers, Law of the People' s Republic of China on Certified Public Accountants, Regulations of the People' s Republic of China on Certified Public Architects, and other related laws and regulations. These laws and regulations stipulate the qualifications and certificate standards of professional and technical staff, and their right to receive continuing education as well as their professional ethics, thereby standardizing the employment requirements for professional and technical staff and improving the quality of professional services.