Farmers from China's vast rural areas will face less barriers finding work in cities, thanks to a new policy officially launched last Friday.

The "Spring Breeze Action" simplifies documentation requirements by listing ID cards as the most important for migrant workers to present in order for them to register for urban jobs.

Other verifying documents are no longer compulsory, helping to simplify procedures and reduce costs.
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Zhang Xiaojian, deputy director of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, said authorities are taking prompt action to better guarantee smooth and effective processing in the following months.

Beijing is taking the lead, promising to create more than 100,000 jobs for the February-April period, a peak job-seeking season among migrants after the Spring Festival holiday.

Almost 97 percent of posts will be suitable for workers with high school training.

Song Fengjing, deputy director with Beijing Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau, said some 20 employment agencies are responsible for related job services, all free of charge.

Around 13,105 available posts were listed as of this weekend.

At the same time, Beijing's Public Security Bureau, Industrial and Commercial Bureau and labor authority will work jointly against illegal employment activities.

Zhejiang Province, a major destination for migrant workers, is seeing an even greater inflow at the moment. Chen Min, director of the Migrant Labor Service Center in the provincial capital, Hangzhou, said the new policy is greatly welcomed by rural workers.

Chen added that they had seen 4,000 people per day at the center over the weekend.

The provinces of Shandong, Fujian and Henan have also rapidly enacted the policy.

Guangdong Province, one of the country's economic powerhouses, is witnessing a reduction in job seekers from outside the province this year.

(China Daily February 21, 2005)