Chinese Officials Promise 12-M Jobs, Big Economic

Chinese economic officials have expressed confidence that they can meet this year’s growth target of “around 5%” by generating 12 million new jobs and encouraging consumer spending following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home, Joe McDonald reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: This year’s job creation target is 12 million, up from last year’s goal of 11 million and below the 12.1 million that was achieved.

The Cabinet planning officials announced no details of spending or other initiatives to revive growth that slumped to 3% last year, the second-lowest in decades. But they said they plan an array of measures to meet goals announced Sunday by Premier Li Keqiang by raising incomes and encouraging innovation.

Efforts to revive the Chinese economy have global implications after weak retail, auto and housing sales depressed demand for imports. The country is the biggest export market for its Asian neighbors and an important revenue source for Western companies.

“There are many policy tools in our toolbox,” the deputy chairman of the National Reform and Development Commission, Li Chunlin, said at a news conference held during the meeting of China’s ceremonial legislature.

The premier’s work report Sunday was unusually brief and gave few details, suggesting the ruling Communist Party will wait until a new premier and some Cabinet ministers are appointed this month in a once-a-decade handover to announce tax, regulatory, subsidy, and other changes.

This year’s job creation target is 12 million, up from last year’s goal of 11 million and below the 12.1 million that was achieved, according to Li. The NDRC chairman, Zhao Chenxin, said the priority is to “release consumption potential” and promote an “innovation-driven development strategy.”

That is in line with the ruling party's plans to nurture self-sustaining growth based on consumer spending instead of exports and investment and to generate prosperity and global influence by making China a creator of valuable technologies.

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