The "Employment First Strategy Plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan Period" (hereinafter referred to as the Plan) has been issued by the State Council. The issuing notice requires the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, as well as all ministries and commissions of the State Council and institutions directly under the State Council, to implement it conscientiously. The document is dated June 11, 2026.
The Plan is formulated in accordance with the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China. It states that employment is the most basic livelihood, bearing on the immediate interests of the people, the healthy development of the economy and society, and the long-term stability of the country. Its goal is to deeply implement the employment-first strategy and promote high-quality full employment.
Regarding the overall requirements, the Plan proposes to take high-quality development as the foundation, lead the implementation of the employment-first strategy, and use strengthened employment-first policies as a lever. Resolving structural employment contradictions is identified as the focal point, deepening reform as the driving force, and preventing large-scale unemployment risks as the bottom line. The objectives for the 15th Five-Year Plan period include: maintaining overall stability in employment and making new progress in high-quality full employment; stable growth in urban employment and effective control of the unemployment level; further improving a unified and standardized human resources market system; further enhancing the role of the service industry in absorbing employment; accelerating the cultivation of modernized human resources; and further improving the labor and employment legal system, with reasonable growth in labor remuneration.
At the macroeconomic level, the Plan requires that high-quality full employment be treated as a priority goal of economic and social development, and that national demonstration areas and units for high-quality full employment be established. Macro policies need to be more coordinated, with fiscal, monetary, industrial, consumption, investment, trade, and regional policies aligned with employment policies. The employment impact of major policies, major projects, and major productivity distributions must be assessed, and monitoring during and after implementation should be strengthened. Regarding artificial intelligence, the Plan calls for the in-depth implementation of the "AI+" initiative, exploring new forms of human-machine collaboration and enhancing its job creation effect.
In terms of aligning industry with employment, the Plan deploys measures to stabilize the employment base in traditional manufacturing such as light industry and textiles, support foreign trade enterprises in expanding into emerging markets, tap employment opportunities in the construction industry by unleashing the labor potential of major engineering projects in transportation, water conservancy, and new energy systems construction, expand employment capacity in the service industry such as housekeeping, elderly care, and childcare, develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, cultivate emerging and future industries, and at the same time give play to the leading role of state-owned enterprises and the important role of private enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises in employment. For regional coordinated development, it supports major economic provinces in forming employment agglomeration areas and growth poles, supports the central, western, and northeastern regions in undertaking industrial transfers, and promotes balanced regional employment development.
Regarding human resources development, the Plan requires improving the matching of education supply with talent demand, building a national big data platform for talent supply and demand matching, and deeply adjusting the disciplinary structure of higher education. Large-scale vocational skills training will focus on groups such as university graduates, migrant workers, and the unemployed, promoting industry-education-evaluation skill ecosystems led by chain enterprises and project-based training models. The career development path for skilled talents will be smoothed by improving occupational classifications, occupational standards, and the "new eight-grade worker" system.
The employment of university graduates and other young people is given high priority. The Plan proposes developing jobs through multiple channels, stabilizing the recruitment scale of government agencies, public institutions, and state-owned enterprises, promoting the entry of public employment services into campuses, and providing special assistance to graduates who have left school but are not yet employed and those with difficulties. The Youth Employment Skills Improvement Action and the Million Employment Internship Position Development Program will also be implemented simultaneously. Employment and career concepts will be guided through establishing career education disciplines and promoting grassroots employment role models.
For other key groups, the Plan requires stabilizing and expanding employment for migrant workers, coordinating urban and rural policies, cultivating distinctive labor brands, implementing work-relief programs and increasing the scale of labor remuneration issuance, and establishing a normalized employment assistance mechanism to prevent a relapse into poverty. Employment support for veterans includes implementing placement policies, encouraging enterprises and new economic organizations to hire veterans, and supporting them in teaching positions in primary and secondary schools. Assistance for those facing employment difficulties and registered unemployed persons emphasizes dynamic management, ensuring zero-employment families are cleared dynamically, while also creating diverse and personalized employment positions suitable for the elderly.
Flexible employment and new forms of employment will receive further support. Platform economy innovation, instant delivery, ride-hailing, online freight, and other industries will give rise to more employment opportunities. The level of equalization of public services needs to be significantly improved, with the construction of casual labor markets being standardized, and practical issues such as housing and meals for workers solved through the construction of friendly scenarios. Regarding rights protection, an occupational injury protection system will be established and improved, and platform enterprises must fairly formulate labor rules, improve algorithm transparency, and pay in full and on time.
The employment and entrepreneurship service system will be improved towards precision and efficiency. The "China Employment" public service platform will be built based on the national employment information resource database. Entrepreneurial services will strengthen the linked support of training, incubation, and guaranteed loans. The human resources service industry will be integrated with manufacturing, and assistance programs for market construction in western and northeastern regions will be implemented.
The section on workers' rights and interests protection covers equal employment rights, the wage and income distribution system, the labor standards system, and the social security system. The Plan calls for breaking down institutional barriers such as household registration, improving the minimum wage adjustment mechanism, and building a skill-oriented salary distribution system. The paid annual leave system will be improved, and the labor contract system will be fully implemented. The social security system emphasizes expanding the coverage of enterprise annuities, steadily implementing the individual pension system, and promoting the broad coverage of unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance for occupational workers. Labor security supervision and enforcement will intensify the rectification of wage arrears and improve long-term mechanisms.
The Plan also deploys measures to strengthen employment monitoring, early warning, and risk response. The employment and unemployment statistical monitoring network will be upgraded, and statistics on flexible employment and new forms of employment will be strengthened. Analysis and judgment of the employment situation will be normalized, and a risk early warning system for key regions, key industries and enterprises, and key groups will be established. Policy reserves and risk response plans will be further improved, and places with the conditions may set up employment risk reserve funds.
Regarding organizational guarantees, the Plan emphasizes adhering to the Party's leadership, giving full play to the role of the coordination mechanism for employment promotion and labor protection, and requiring all regions and departments to implement the Plan in light of actual conditions. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will be responsible for dynamically monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Plan, and major matters will be reported to the Party Central Committee and the State Council in a timely manner.