Thirty-three million families have received child allowances: "Children come with their own food and wages right from birth."

The 14th National People’s Congress Fourth Session held a press conference today focused on people’s livelihoods.

National Health Commission: As of now, 33 million families have received child-rearing subsidies

Li HaiChao, Director of the National Health Commission, announced that the Chinese government provides an annual child-rearing subsidy of 3,600 yuan for infants born after January 1, 2022, in accordance with laws and regulations, until the child turns three. To date, 33 million families have received these subsidies.

Li HaiChao said, “Some residents use a vivid metaphor—children are born with their own food and wages. The 300-yuan monthly child-rearing subsidy helps families nurture children and promote growth.”

In terms of childcare services, inclusive childcare has made significant progress. Last year, 890,000 more childcare spots were added, bringing the total to over 6.6 million.

This year, over 10 million people will participate in subsidized vocational skills training

Wang Xiaoping, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, introduced that with rapid technological changes and accelerated skill updates, learning has become an inevitable requirement of this era. We will build a lifelong vocational skills training system covering the entire career span, aiming for everyone to learn, learn everywhere, and learn anytime.

For new labor force entrants, preparatory and general skills training will be provided.

For enterprise employees, apprenticeship and on-the-job training will be conducted.

For workers transitioning to new roles, new skills and entrepreneurship training will be offered.

This year, we will carry out large-scale vocational skills enhancement training, with over 10 million subsidized training sessions, focusing on sectors like low-altitude economy, new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, and health and wellness services, to better serve industry and employment.

15-minute breaks and 2 hours of daily physical activity are now implemented in all provinces

Ministry of Education Minister Huai Jinpeng announced that the “15-minute break” and “2 hours of daily physical activity” policies have been fully deployed across all provinces. According to national monitoring, the overall health and fitness of students has steadily improved, and the overall myopia rate among students has decreased for four consecutive years.

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: Studying measures to leverage AI for creating new jobs and empowering traditional roles

Wang Xiaoping stated that they are actively researching measures to utilize artificial intelligence in creating new jobs and enhancing existing ones, promoting inclusive development that balances technological progress with improving people’s livelihoods.

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: Focus areas for stabilizing employment, expanding capacity, and improving quality this year

Wang Xiaoping explained that efforts will focus on stabilizing jobs, expanding capacity, and enhancing quality. Key actions include:

• Supporting labor-intensive industries like foreign trade, construction, and hospitality to stabilize employment.

• Exploring employment potential in digital economy, high-end manufacturing, and modern services to expand capacity.

• Implementing minimum wage adjustments, regulating the labor market, and ensuring timely payment of wages to workers, especially migrant workers, to improve employment quality and protect workers’ rights.

Ministry of Education: Continuing efforts to address illegal schooling, excessive study hours, and campus bullying

Huai Jinpeng announced ongoing efforts to crack down on illegal schools, excessive study hours, and campus bullying, including special campaigns targeting school meals and auxiliary textbook subscriptions.

Ministry of Education: “Double First-Class” universities have expanded enrollment by 38,000 in the past two years

Huai Jinpeng reported that over the past two years, through expansion of high-quality undergraduate programs, “Double First-Class” universities have increased enrollment by 38,000 students, responding to public demand for quality higher education. Additionally, 18 new regular undergraduate universities and 70 vocational colleges have been added, with 700,000 more undergraduate admissions. International cooperation in education has also grown, with over 540 new Sino-foreign cooperative institutions and programs at the undergraduate level, providing an additional 350,000 degrees.

Ministry of Culture and Tourism: Zero tolerance for illegal practices like deceptive business, forced shopping, and fraud

Sun Yeli, Minister of Culture and Tourism, stated that market regulation will be strengthened to address chaos in the cultural and tourism sectors. Illegal activities such as deceptive practices, forced shopping, and fraud will be met with zero tolerance, strict supervision, and severe penalties, including shutdowns when necessary.

A set of data on the development of China’s health and wellness sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan

Li HaiChao highlighted several key figures illustrating the development of China’s health and wellness sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan:

• 52.6%. The proportion of outpatient visits at grassroots medical institutions in 2025, up from previous years. Nearly 100,000 rural medical students have been trained through rural order-based programs, and over 10,000 graduates have joined township health centers.

• 15 minutes. The average travel time for over 90% of urban and rural families to reach the nearest medical facility. China has built 1.1 million medical institutions, with over 16 million health personnel, including 5.29 million licensed (assistant) physicians and over 6.03 million registered nurses.

• 10,800 yuan. The child-rearing subsidy for infants born after January 1, 2022, which is 3,600 yuan annually until age three. As of now, 33 million families have received this subsidy. The capacity of inclusive childcare services has significantly increased.

• 79.25 years. The projected average life expectancy in China by 2025, an increase of 1.32 years from 2020, with an annual growth rate of 0.26 years.

(Source: Daily Economic News)