On the morning of January 10, 2017, Seminar of “Employment Structure Adjustment and Unemployment Prevention Strategy in China’s Economic Downturn”, was held by the Major Project of National Social Science Fund, which was undertaken by Lai Desheng, Dean of BNU Business School, Director of the Research Center of the Labor Market.

The group leader of the Seminar is Zhang Juwei, Head of Institute of Population and Labor Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and president of China Labor Economic Association, and the expert group includes: Wu Daohuai, Director of the Employment Promotion Dept. of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), Zeng Xiangquan, professor of Labor Personnel School of Renmin University of China, Director of China’s Employment Research Institute, Mo Rong, Director of International Labor and Social Security Institute of MOHRSS, and Li Shi, Professor of BNUBS, executive Dean of China Income Distribution Institute. The main members of the research group, including Professor Tian Ming, from School of Social Development and Public Policy of BNU, Professor Wei Hao, from BNUBS, editor Meng Dahu from BNU Academic Journal, Professor Li Chang’an from UIBE, Professor Gao Wenshu, from Institute of Population and Labor Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Sun Zhijun, Party Secretary of BNUBS, and Professor Cai Hongbo, assistant of the Dean of BNUBS and other related teachers and students, attend the seminar.

The chief expert of the project, Professor Lai Desheng, introduces the background, the overall framework, the research content, the research objectives, the research methods, the main innovation, the research team, the research data, the expected results and so on. In his report, he points out that the process of economic restructuring is often accompanied by changes in the employment structure, which are closely linked. To study the unemployment problem and its preventive measures during economic downturn plays a significant theoretical and practical role in promoting economic restructuring and upgrading and innovation, improving the safety network of the society, ensuring the long-term economic and social prosperity and stability, promoting social equity, enhancing employment matching and economic efficiency and the quality of employment. Starting from the international comparison, the research project will summarize the general laws, define the connotation and denotation of the problem and focus on features of China’s current economic downturn and its impact on the labor market, thus discussing the impact of industrial structure change and employment structure adjustment on employment theoretically and practically through studying literature and sorting out the relevant theories. After fully grasping the laws and characteristics of the adjustment of employment structure in China’s economic downturn, the project will creatively establish a set of indicators for unemployment warning and give policy suggestions to promote employment and prevent unemployment. Team leaders of sub-projects, including Tian Ming, Wei Hao, Li Chang’an, Meng Dahu and Gao Wenshu introduce the situation of the sub-projects respectively.

Expert group leader Zhang Juwei and the participating experts fully affirm the research design, and finally, by the expert group assessment of the argument, agree to approve the proposal and discussion of “Employment Structure Adjustment and Unemployment Prevention Research in China’s Economic Downturn”.