Northeast China's Liaoning Province is seeking to strike a perfect balance with its social security network to cover more disadvantaged people, according to Zhang Wenyue, the newly elected provincial governor.

"We will try our best to help improve people's living standards both in the city and countryside in the coming years while revitalizing the economy," said Zhang.

Creating more jobs for laid-off workers and providing effective services to help them start their own businesses will help guarantee the country's overall plan for economic and social development, Zhang said.

The governor vowed to maintain an 11 percent gross domestic product growth rate for the next five years and achieve an average GDP per capita of US$3,250 by 2010.

Job creation has become the primary goal and function of Chinese governments at all levels.

Liaoning Province, as the nation's traditional heavy industrial base, still has a large number of unemployed. There are about 7.5 million laid-off workers in the province, And 1.5 million people throughout the countryside live in poor conditions.

So the new provincial leader has set jobs as a high priority agenda for the new government.

And Zhang said he will focus on constructing a more complete social security network to try to stamp out poverty.

During the past several years, the province has achieved great progress in lifting general standards of living, with conditions in poverty-stricken areas continually improving.

The social security net does not just serve laid-off and retired workers, but benefits people from all walks of life, he said.

Yet 1.5 million farmers still live a rather hard life.

"Helping the rural population out of poverty is a pressing task for the government,” said Zhang, "I will try to help them live a better life as soon as possible."

The provincial government will help 4.5 million people find jobs through 2010, while trying to move the unemployment rate below 5 percent, according to a provincial government's report.

But experts say the situation remains very serious. In the next three years, over 3.8 million people including laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises, graduating students and laborers moving into cities from the countryside will need jobs.

"I can sense the pressure. But I will try my best. I will try to create a government that serves the people whole-heartedly," he said.

(China Daily February 28, 2004)