Employment is the best way to improve people's livelihood. 70 Years of Employment in China (1949-2019), edited by Lai Desheng, Li Chang’an and Zhang Qi, was published by China Human Resources and Social Security Publishing Group on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the People's Republic of China. On 28th October, 2019, the symposium on the publication of 70 Years of Employment in China (1949-2019) was jointly held by BNUBS and China Human Resources and Social Security Publishing Group in Jingshi School of BNU. Zhang Xiaojian, former vice minister of China Human Resources and Social Security Publishing Group and president of China Association of Employment Promotion; Yin Jiankun, deputy director of employment promotion department of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security; Zhang Chewei, director of   the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at CASS and president of China Society of Labor Economics; Gong Weibin, director of social and ecological civilization teaching and research department of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (state school of administration); Zeng Xiangquan, director of China Employment Research Institute of Renmin University of China; Yang Yiyong, director of Social Development Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission; Huang Weilai, deputy general manager of China Human Resources Social Security Group; Yan Xiaofei, member of the standing committee of the CPC committee and director of Research Administration Office of the China Institute of Industrial Relations; Feng Xiliang, dean of school of labor economics of Capital University of Economics and Business; Gao Wenshu, director of Human Resources Research Office of Population and Labor Economics Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Tian Yongpo, director of Human Resources Marketing Research Office and other leaders, experts and scholars attended the meeting. Sun Zhijun, party secretary of BNUBS, and Zhang Bin, general manager of China Human Resources and Social Security Publishing Group delivered speeches on behalf of the both parties. The seminar was divided into two sessions, presided by Lai Desheng and Zhang Qi respectively.

Picture 1  Lai Desheng and Zhang Qi

Figure 2  Sun Zhijun and Zhang Bin

Li Chang’an, on behalf of compilation group of 70 Years of Employment in China, made a brief description of the book. He introduced that the book was revised on the basis of 60 Years of Employment in China. It highlighted the employment situation after the primary stage of socialism entered a new era since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and emphasized the combination of historical description and theoretical interpretation.

Picture 3  Li Chang’an

Leaders and experts at the meeting spoke highly of the academic value and practical significance of 70 Years of Employment in China (1949-2019) and discussed the topic thoroughly. Yin Jiankun believed that since the founding of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago, China had made great achievements in employment and achieved relatively full employment. The quality of employment continued to improve, the reform of the employment system continued, and the employment policy and service system were initially improved. Zhang Chewei made a comparison between the employment under the planned economy and that under market economy. He believed that the endowment of resources had been given the full play, our labor quality kept improving and favorable labor cost remained to be our advantage. Gong Weibin pointed it out that we should give full consideration to different groups’ occupation inclination, attach great importance to the construction of a harmony labor relationship as great change was taking place in the form and model of employment. Zeng Xiangquan held that we should learn from the past successful practice as well as the harsh lesson as enormous achievements can been seen in employment. The construction of labor resource database should be put high on agenda. Zhang Chewei compared the employment in the period of planned economy and market economy and considered that it was of great significance for full and high-quality employment to make employment priority policy as macro policy. Feng Xiliang emphasized the development of new technologies on employment challenge, ways to improve the quality of employment and the employment problems of rural migrant workers in the new period. Combining with the problem of staff building, Yan Xiaofei thought that the skills of staff should be improved in the future and the health of staff should be paid more attention to. From the perspective of labor migration policy reform and fair employment, Gao Wenshu elaborated on how to transform China's rich working-age population into dividends that promote economic growth. Tian Yongpo stressed that with the development of new technology, employment was facing great opportunities and challenges both in practice and research.

Figure 4  Yin Jiankun, Zhang Chewei and Gong Weibin

Picture 5  Zeng Xiangquan, Yang Yiyong and Feng Xiliang

Picture 6  Yan Xiaofei, Gao Wenshu and Tian Yongpo

In the end, Zhang Xiaojian, who is the same age with the China and had witnessed the situation of employment in China since its founding, highly appraised the content of this book, and thought that this book is a gift to the 70th anniversary of the republic of China and the employment front workers in China, which is of great historical and practical significance. He combined with his own experience and extracted 11 major events in the 70 years of employment development in new China based on urban employment and rural employment and put forward his thoughts on the new challenges facing the current employment.

Picture 7  Zhang Xiaojian

Picture 8  the scene

One of the main reasons why new China has made great achievements in the past 70 years is that it has always been people-centered, given high priority to employment, and promoted sound interaction between economic development and expanding employment. The book is historical-oriented, academic-oriented and policy-oriented, and the publication of this book to promote higher quality and more adequate employment has an important reference value.

Picture 9  group picture