ABSTRACT
A common reaction in the event of unemployment is to encourage women to remain in or return to the home. Chinese experts duly thought of this possible solution, especially as the employment of women on a large scale is a recent phenomenon in China and conflicts with traditional views. The main reason for the shift is probably the increasingly blatant character of rural under-employment, after several years of implementation of the responsibility system in the countryside. A classic means of opening up jobs for the young is to encourage older employees to retire as soon as they reach retirement age or even to take early retirement. The other aspect of the employment problem is directly linked to the economic reforms put into effect since 1978. At that time the correction of some aspects of the former economic system took on an urgent character because of their negative effects on employment and, consequently, on the social and political climate.
