China stresses fairness in college graduate employment

The General Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, issued an instruction on Thursday to prohibit gender- or ethnicity-based discrimination in the employment of college graduates. The instruction also forbids employers from instituting age, alma mater and household registry requirements. Supervision over the human resource market should be strengthened to crack down on employment fraud and correct discriminatory practices, according to the instruction. Furthermore, the instruction asks all relevant local authorities to lower the threshold for corporation registration in favor of businesses started by college graduates, as well as assist them with micro-financing, subsidies and tax rebates or waivers. The instruction also says the employment of college graduates will be linked to the performance evaluations of local governments. China will see a record-high 6.99 million people graduate from college this year, up 2.8 percent year on year, according to official figures.