Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnT, woRk, and hEalTh inEqualiTiEs - a global perspective
workers in brick kilns and small coal mines in shanxi and Henan
provinces in 2007 (China Daily, 2007a).
With economic reform and the increase of private sector employment,
the government began to allow state and collectively-owned enterprises
employment freedom. a labour law enacted in 1995 stipulates that all
workers in all types of enterprises have to be employed on a contract basis
(ministry of labor and social security). In 2007, China passed a new labour
law, effective in January 1, 2008, that strengthens protections for workers
across its booming economy (ministry of labor and social security). The
new labour contract law requires employers to provide written contracts
to their workers, restricts the use of temporary labourers, and makes it
harder to lay off employees.
after 1998, the government began to adopt systems for protecting
unemployment and other social welfare benefits. By 2001, the
majority of people laid off by state-owned enterprises were receiving
a basic living allowance, and retired personnel were receiving
pensions. since then, the newly laid-off can immediately receive
unemployment compensation that has been gradually integrated with
the minimum living guarantee system (Juwei, 2003). The major
problems of the current social security system are limited funding
and coverage, the lack of detailed policy analyses and coordination
among relevant ministries; and deficiencies in implementation.
urgently needed is an increase in funding for the minimum living
guarantee system. The fiscal budget for the minimum living
guarantee system only accounted for a tiny 0.1% of China's total gDp,
or less than 0.5% of total government expenditure. This is very low
compared with developed countries (Zeng, 2005).
occupation-related accidents have been very high in China (Wang &
Christiani, 2003). In 2006, the state administration of Work safety
reported that coal mine accidents alone killed 4,746 people. The death
rate in coal miners in 2005 was 2.81 for every million tons of coal mined,
70 times worse than the rate in united states and seven times higher
than russia and India (China Daily, 2007b). The number of workers
afflicted with occupational diseases in China has also been increasing.
pneumoconiosis is the most serious occupational lung disease in
China, and by 2004, the country had 580,000 cases. The disease is
growing at an alarming rate, estimated to be 10,000 cases per year in
the future (leung & Kwan, 2005). poor working conditions pose the
worse threat to migrant workers. most rural migrants often work in
environments subject to high temperatures, severe dust, poisonous
paint fumes, and poor air circulation, where they are often required to
work overtime, sometimes without contract. migrant workers enjoy
very few of the rights, benefits and forms of protection that come with
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