4. Caring for people's well-being, creating more jobs and administering social security work well

    We consider it highly important to protect the vital interests of the people and help them, especially the needy, in solving problems in their work and daily lives. Governments at all levels conscientiously implemented a series of measures drawn up by the Party Central Committee and the State Council for increasing employment and reemployment and increased their efforts, capital spending and policy support in this regard. The central governmentallocated an additional 4.7 billion yuan of subsidies for job creation. We increased our employment guidance and services for last year's college graduates, who were the first to be enrolled under the college expansion plan of 1999. By the end of last year,83% of last year's graduates from regular institutions of higher learning had found jobs, 600,000 more than the previous year.

    To continue ensuring the "two guarantees" (guaranteeing that the living allowances for workers laid off from state-owned enterprises and that the pensions of retirees are paid on time and in full) and the "three-stage guarantee" for laid-off workers, the central government spent 70 billion yuan in 2003, 19.9% more than the previous year; of this sum, subsidies for subsistence allowances for the urban poor increased from 4.6 billion yuan in 2002 to 9.2 billion yuan in 2003. This allowed 22.35 million urban residents throughout the country to receive such benefits. In 2003,the central government began making annual allocations of special funds to help local governments assist ex-service men who are working in enterprises to solve their financial difficulties. Benefits were again raised for disabled revolutionary servicemen and other people who are entitled to special care by the government.

    We further intensified efforts to alleviate rural poverty through development and we invested more to improve working and living conditions in underdeveloped areas. We made all-out efforts to fight disasters and ensure adequate disaster relief. Central budget funds totaling 8.03 billion yuan were spent on relief for people affected by floods, droughts, earthquakes or other disasters, up 63.9% over the previous year, and 2.79 billion yuan was invested in post-disaster reconstruction. As a result, proper living arrangements were made for people in disaster-afflicted areas, production resumed and reconstruction proceeded in an orderly way. Governments at all levels took the problem of wage arrears for migrant rural workers very seriously, worked harder to resolve it and achieved initial results.

    5. Pressing forward with institutional innovation and making significant progress in reform and opening up Institutional restructuring of the State Council was accomplished smoothly on the basis of the plan approved at the First Session of the Tenth National People's Congress and the adjusted and newly set up bodies are now operating normally. Significant progress was made in establishing a macro-control mechanism, restructuring the management of state assets and establishing a mechanism for oversight and management of the banking sector. We unified the mechanisms for administering domestic and foreign trade and improved monitoring systems for food and workplace safety. Institutional restructuring of provincial governments has been basically completed. The reform of the administrative examination and approval system was deepened.