Ministry also targets pension coverage and better injury cover for gig workers

Chinese authorities unveiled key workforce targets for the 2026-30 period on Thursday, pledging to reemploy millions of laid-off workers, ensure near-universal pension coverage and strengthen injury protection for gig workers.

The targets are among 18 quantifiable goals outlined in the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for human resources and social security development, covering employment, vocational training, social security, labor relations and public services.

In a media release, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's planning and finance department said that the goals are designed to develop a modern workforce, improve people's livelihoods and advance common prosperity.

On employment, the plan aims to reemploy 25 million laid-off workers and help another 6.5 million people facing employment difficulties find jobs.

It also calls for the urban surveyed unemployment rate to remain below 5.5 percent and for subsidized vocational training to reach more than 50 million people, including 17.5 million rural migrant workers.

The plan does not specify a target for total new urban jobs, saying only that the number should be maintained at a "considerable scale".

The planning and finance department said the employment targets are intended to "maintain overall employment stability and achieve new progress in high-quality full employment".

On social security, the plan aims to keep coverage under the basic pension insurance system above 95 percent. It targets unemployment insurance coverage of 255 million people and work-related injury insurance coverage of 345 million, including participants in an occupational injury protection program for workers in new forms of employment, such as ride-hailing drivers and food delivery couriers.

The plan also sets a target for enterprise annuities and occupational annuities — employer-sponsored supplements to the basic State pension system — to exceed 9 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion) by 2030.

The department said the targets are intended to make the social safety net more robust and sustainable while further improving protection.

It also noted that, for the first time, the plan includes a chapter on regional cooperation to better coordinate human resources and social security efforts across regions, enabling different areas to complement and reinforce one another.

Another new chapter focuses on large-scale vocational skills training, highlighting its role in supporting industrial development, improving workers' employability and easing persistent structural mismatches in the labor market, the ministry said.

"The plan introduces a series of new measures and policy breakthroughs tailored to the evolving challenges and priorities facing the human resources and social security sector during the 15th Five-Year Plan period," the ministry said.

It added that the blueprint adopts a problem — and goal-oriented approach to advance deeper reform and innovation across key areas.

Reviewer 1: Huang Mengyao

Reviewer 2: Zhang Yanlan

Reviewer 3: Tang Caihong