Ministry: China to create 775,000 jobs through rural stores by end-2010

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Chinese media) -- China will establish

250,000 rural retail stores by next year to create 775,000 jobs for migrant

workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis, a

Ministry of Commerce official said Monday.

Vice Commerce Minister Jiang Zengwei said this year

the ministry would set up 150,000 stores. This and the building of ancillary

services, including delivery centers and post offices, which would create "a

large amount of jobs" for migrant workers.

He said that since the government started the

"Thousands of Villages Project," which encouraged village retail store

development, the ministry had established 260,000 such stores, with one store

offering about three jobs on average for rural residents. These stores helped

ensure product quality in the rural market as well.

Jiang said the ministry had strict criteria for rural

retail stores in terms of finance. For instance, companies based in the

relatively developed eastern region must have registered capital of at least 3

million yuan (about 428,571 U.S. dollars) and those based in the central and

western regions must have no less than 2 million yuan.

"The core problem we face this year is to support the

establishment of delivery centers for village retail chain stores," he added.

About 20 million migrant workers had returned home

after losing their jobs as the global financial crisis took a toll on the

economy, said Chen Xiwen, director of the office of the Central Leading Group on

Rural Work last week.