I. General Introduction
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the People's Republic of China was established in March 1998 on the basis of the former Ministry of Labor, being an organ directly under the State Council, it is in charge of the administration of national labor and social security undertakings, mainly including labor force management, labor relationship readjustment, various items of social insurance management and legal construction of labor and social security. Among them, the social insurance is merged by social insurance for urban employees administered by the former Ministry of Labor, social insurance for government organ the institutions administered by the Ministry of Personnel, the rural social insurance administered by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the medical insurance administered by the Ministry of Public Health as well as social insurance pooling for various sectors and departments.
The MOLSS is composed of the following 13 functional departments: General Office, Department of Legal Affairs, Department of Planning and Finance, Department of Training and Employment, Department of Labor and Wages, Department of Pension Insurance, Department of Unemployment Insurance, Department of Medical Insurance, Department of Work Injury Insurance, Department of Rural Social Insurance, Department of Social Insurance Fund Supervision, Department of International Cooperation and Department of Personnel and Education.
Meanwhile, the MOLSS has the following institutions: The Social Insurance Administration Center, Information Center, China Labor and Social Security Science Academy, China Employment Training Technical Instruction Center, China Labor and Social Security News, China Labor and Social Security Publishing House, Education and Training Center, Publicity Center, International Exchanges and Services Center, Social Security Capacity Building Center. The MOLSS also has the following affiliated organizations: China Labor Society, China Social Insurance Association, China Occupational Education and Training Association, China Employment Promotion Association etc.
The major responsibilities of MOLSS
1. Draft the basic guidelines and policies for Labor and social insurance, and the general program for reforming the social insurance system; formulate labor and social insurance development program and annual working plan, and organize the implementation thereof.
2. Draft the laws and regulations, administrative rules as well as basic standards concerning labor and social insurance and organize the implementation, supervision and inspection thereof; draft management rules concerning labor and social insurance legislation and policy service and consultancy agencies; exercise the labor and social insurance supervision and inspection authorities on behalf of the State, formulate working norms on labor and social insurance supervision and inspection, and supervise local labor and social insurance supervision and inspection agencies.
3. Draft the basic policies and measures to promote employment in urban and rural areas; work out the development program for the labor market, organize the building and improving of employment services system; draft the program and policies with regard to the lay-off and redeployment of the retrenched workers from the SOEs (State-Owned Enterprises), their basic subsistence guarantee and reemployment, organize the implementation of reemployment program, and draft the management rules concerning job agencies; work out the policies and measures concerning the development and employment of surplus rural labor as well as orderly interregional migration of rural labor and organize the implementation thereof; draft the management policies for the employment of alien workers in P.R. China and overseas employment of domestic workers in accordance with the division of duties; draft the management rules on relevant agencies which operate the business of selecting and dispatching Chinese employees for the representative offices or agencies of foreign enterprises in China, and formulate the accreditation methods for foreign agencies in China engaged in labor recruitment intermediary, consultancy and training activities.
4. Organize the drafting of occupational classification and national vocational skill standards, organize the formulation and promulgation of relevant sectoral vocational skill standards; establish vocational qualification certificate system, draft the vocational skill accreditation policies; draft the development program and management rules for technical workers' schools in accordance with the national guidelines and policies concerning education undertaking; formulate programs and policies concerning on-the-job training for enterprise workers, reemployment training for the unemployed and the laid-off workers of SOEs, as well as that concerning employment training centers and the vocational training institutions run by the social forces; draft the rules, measures and policies concerning the training and awarding of vocationally skilled personnel as well as making rules, policies and measures o vocational skill competitions; draft the implementation measures for labor preparation system; guide the quality upgrading of teaching staff for technical workers' schools and vocational training institutions; work out the curriculum development program for technical workers' schools and vocational training as well as the corresponding evaluation and accreditation system.
5. Formulate the fundamental principle for labor relations adjustment and the enforcement regulations on labor contract and collective contract system; establish the labor dispute settlement system and draft labor arbitration regulation; verify and issue the manning quota the enterprises; work out the system for enterprise employees' working time, rest, vocation as well as special labor protection policies for female workers and adolescent workers; take charge of policy placement and deployment of labor; participate in the evaluation and selection of national enterprise model workers.
6. Draft the macro-policies and measures concerning the wages of enterprise employees; work out enterprise wage guidelines and wage income regulatory policies for industrial sectors; draft the income distribution policies for managers of the SOEs.
7. Formulate the basic policies and standards concerning the pension insurance, unemployment insurance, medical insurance, employment injury insurance as well as maternity insurance and organize the implementation, supervision and inspection thereof.
8. Draft policies concerning the collection, payment, management and operation of social insurance funds; verify the budget and final accounts of social insurance funds; implement administrative supervision on the management of social insurance funds; formulate the management rules for social insurance management agencies and the qualification accreditation standards for fund management agencies; work out the building program for social insurance service system and organize the implementation thereof.
9. Draft policies concerning the supplementary old-age and supplementary medical insurance in government organizations, institutions and enterprises; draft certification standards concerning the qualification of agencies undertaking supplementary insurance; certify the qualification of the relevant agencies which undertake the business of supplementary insurance.
10. Take charge of statistical and information work concerning national labor and social insurance and the organization of labor and social insurance information network construction; regularly publicize the statistical bulletins, statistical information and data concerning labor and social insurance and forecast the development trends.
11. Organize the scientific and technological research I the field of labor and social insurance and the dissemination, application of the results; take charge of the standardization in the field of labor and social insurance.
12. Take charge of international exchanges and cooperation in the field of labor and social insurance; participate in the activities and programs of the ILO and other relevant international organizations on behalf of the Chinese government; administer the multilateral and bilateral exchanges and cooperation projects and programs in the field of labor and social security involving governments, non-government organizations and international economic assistance agencies; administer international technical cooperation and personnel exchanges in the field of labor and social security; review and ratify International Labor Convention and Recommendations.
13. Undertake other assignments by the State Council.