Liu also pointed out that decent work was a dynamic concept, and should be understood in light of the historical and cultural background of a country. Developed and developing countries may have different standards of decent work. "Although working conditions in China are still not as good as those in developed countries, they are better than those in compatible developing countries," Liu noted. He added that working conditions in China vary across regions and across industries. State-owned enterprises and economically developed regions have better working conditions than the private sector and underdeveloped regions. Liu held, "As China has a large population and tight labor market, and workers' income is relatively low, the key to decent work in China is job creation."

Statistics show that China has a large informal economy. Many people are self-employed or work in small private enterprises. Professor Hu Angang at the Center for China Study, Tsinghua University, estimated the total employment in the informal sector in urban areas to be 60 million to 80 million, accounting for about 45 percent of the total labor force. As the economy has grown rapidly, the pace of urbanization has picked up. Hu estimated that at least 200 million surplus rural labors had migrated to cities.

Deng Haibin, an official in charge of employment issues in the National Development and Reform Commission, said that workers in the informal sector are in a vulnerable situation because their rights to adequate income, work safety and social protection are not properly safeguarded. Tian Chengping, Minister of Labor and Social Security, pointed out that realizing full employment and decent work is not an easy task for China.

China has implemented many policies to promote job creation, such as tax rebates or exemptions and microfinance. The government has encouraged people to start up their own businesses, and has given incentives to firms to hire more people. Families with nobody working and people who find it difficult to get work are provided with employment services or charity assistance.

In recent few years, the total number of employed people in employment has increased and the unemployment rate has dropped slightly. Statistics from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security indicate that from 2003 to 2006, the number of employed people increased by 10 million each year. As of the end of September 2007, the urban registered unemployment rate was 4 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from the end of 2006.

China has the largest number of labor unions and union members. The latest statistics indicate that there are 193 million union members and more than 1.5 million primary-level labor unions in China. Even for foreign-funded enterprises where unions tend to be weak, about half have labor unions. As of the end of September 2006, there were 11.79 million union members in 61,000 foreign-ventured enterprises, including those with investment from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, which means that 56 percent of all employees in these enterprises were unionized.

Women's rights

Equal rights and equal pay for men and women have been stipulated in China's Constitution and the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women.

Ding Dajian, Director of the Women Workers' Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said that in 2006, more than 60 million women were union members, accounting for 37 percent of the total female labor force. To better protect women's rights, a subcommittee for women workers has been set up in most of the labor unions in China.

Ding noted that the protection of women's rights was a key work area of the All-China Federations of Labor Unions. The Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, published in 1987, includes provisions on the protection of women's rights, yet the law is now outdated. "We are pushing for the revision of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women. The revised law will offer better and broader protection of women's rights. The current law only covers state-owned enterprises, while the new law will cover all entities," Ding explained.

Women workers are concentrated in industries with high employment turnovers, such as the service and textile industries. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is advocating a collective contract for women workers. Trade unions will represent women workers in signing collective contracts with enterprises or trade associations.

The trade union of Shanghai textile workers signed a collective contract for women workers with Shanghai Textile Holding (Group) Corp. The contract specified that female workers were equal to male workers. Women more than seven months pregnant are entitled to one additional hour of break per day, and should not be assigned to evening shifts or asked to work extra hours; in special cases maternity leave can be extended to six months. The contract also stipulates that women workers should be screened twice each year for gynecological diseases.

In 2005, the trade union of the catering industry in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, signed a collective contract with the local catering industry association, banning business owners from using any promotional strategies that would hurt the dignity of women workers.

"This provision has attracted wide attention. Now it has been implemented in many restaurants," Ding added.

For Ding, the legal framework protecting women's rights was not enough to guarantee decent work for women. She insisted that women's education must be improved. Improving women's education will empower them to better protect their own rights and to get decent work.

Since 2004, the Women Workers' Department of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions has been committed to improving the qualifications of women workers. In 2007, with support from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, more than 70,000 "weekend schools" for women workers were set up across China. Approximately 20 million women workers received free technical or general educational training; and among them 4 million have advanced to higher professional levels.