The issuance of these certificates by the State Council will be eligible for **subsidies**

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Action Plan for Improving Vocational Skills (2019–2021): To implement the decisions and arrangements of **** and the State Council and to carry out actions aimed at improving vocational skills, the following plan is formulated. I. General requirements and objectives/tasks (1) General requirements. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we must fully implement the spirit of the * and the second and third plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee. Vocational skills training should be regarded as a key measure for maintaining employment stability and alleviating structural employment imbalances, as well as an important underpinning for economic transformation, upgrading, and high-quality development. Adhering to a demand-oriented approach and serving economic and social development, while meeting the employment and entrepreneurship needs of the people, we will vigorously promote a system of lifelong vocational skills training. Vocational skills training will be carried out on a large scale for workers in urban and rural areas, including employees, key groups in need of employment, and poor laborers registered in relevant databases (hereinafter referred to as poor laborers), in order to accelerate the development of a workforce that is knowledgeable, skilled, and innovative. (II) Objectives and tasks. From 2019 to 2021, efforts were made on a continuous basis to improve vocational skills, enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of training in order to raise the vocational skill levels as well as the employment and entrepreneurship capabilities of workers. Over three years, more than 50 million person-times have participated in various subsidized vocational skills training programs; in 2019 alone, over 15 million person-times received such training ； Through efforts, by the end of 2021, the proportion of skilled workers among the total workforce exceeded 25%, while the proportion of highly skilled workers among skilled workers reached over 30%. II. Conduct targeted vocational skills training for key groups such as workers. (3) Vigorously carry out skills enhancement and career transition training for enterprise employees. Enterprises must develop employee training plans and conduct skill training that meets job requirements and development needs. They should widely organize pre-job training, on-the-job training, and off-the-job training, as well as activities such as on-the-job practice, skills competitions, and online learning. Efforts should also be made to train highly skilled personnel, and to arrange overseas training for leading high-skilled talents and professionals in short supply within the industry. Leverage the roles of industries, leading enterprises, and training institutions to guide and assist small, medium, and micro enterprises in conducting employee training. Implement action plans to improve safety skills in high-risk industries; enterprises in such sectors as chemicals and mining must organize safety skill training for their employees as well as various types of special workers, and strictly enforce the requirement that employees only be allowed to work after completing the necessary safety skill training. Support the provision of retraining programs for enterprises facing difficulties. The new corporate apprenticeship system and modern apprenticeship training programs will be implemented across all types of enterprises nationwide, with the goal of training 1 million new apprentices over three years. Promote the integration of industry and education as well as cooperation between schools and enterprises, to achieve an effective connection between what schools train and what enterprises need in terms of workforce. Enterprises are encouraged to reach an agreement with their employees to flexibly adjust working hours, ensuring that employees receive the appropriate salary and benefits during training. (IV) Provide vocational skill improvement training and entrepreneurship training for key employment groups. Targeting rural workers who have moved to cities for employment, especially the new generation of migrant workers, junior and senior high school graduates who did not continue their education in urban or rural areas (hereinafter referred to as the \"two types of youth\"), people who have lost their jobs, veterans, and those facing difficulties in finding employment (including persons with disabilities), special training programs such as the Migrant Workers’ \"Spring Tide Initiative\", the \"Dream Realization through Education Initiative\", programs to improve the vocational skills of the new generation of migrant workers and training for starting businesses upon returning to their hometowns, as well as pre-employment training, employment skill training, and vocational skill improvement training are continuously carried out to comprehensively enhance their vocational skills and abilities in employment and entrepreneurship. Provide entrepreneurship training for those who wish to start a business, and strengthen services such as the development of entrepreneurship training programs, guaranteed loans for entrepreneurs, and follow-up support. Centered on the rural revitalization strategy, initiatives are carried out to train new types of professional farmers and to improve the skills of leaders among rural professionals, including providing skill training for professional farmers. (5) Step up efforts to improve the skills of poor workers and children from poor families through skill development programs. Focusing on impoverished areas, particularly those that are deeply affected by poverty such as the \"Three Regions and Three Prefectures,\" efforts are made to provide free vocational skills training for poor workers through methods like project-based service procurement. During the training period, living expenses (including transportation costs, the same below) are subsidized using employment assistance funds, thereby increasing the proportion of poor individuals among those who receive such training. Continue to advance efforts in vocational education, vocational skills training, and the training of leaders who can help poor villages achieve prosperity, within the framework of poverty alleviation cooperation between the eastern and western regions. We will further advance the initiative to help lift people out of poverty through skills development in thousands of schools, as well as efforts to provide skill-based assistance in areas severely affected by poverty. For students from poor families who receive vocational training, policies such as grants and tuition waivers for secondary vocational education will be implemented in accordance with relevant regulations ； Poor families whose children receive vocational education are provided with subsidies in accordance with policy. III. Stimulate the enthusiasm of training providers to effectively increase training supply (VI) Support enterprises in establishing vocational skills training programs. It supports various types of enterprises, especially those above a certain scale or those that employ a large number of workers, in establishing staff training centers. Enterprises are encouraged to cooperate with vocational colleges (including technical schools, the same hereafter) to build training centers and teaching factories, and to actively develop a number of enterprises that integrate industry and education. If an enterprise establishes or co-establishes vocational colleges, authorities at all levels **can provide support in accordance with regulations, based on the number of graduates who find employment or the number of individuals who receive training. Enterprises are supported in establishing training centers for highly skilled workers and workshops for master craftsmen; they can obtain the necessary financial support through funds allocated for employee education, **with subsidies provided in accordance with regulations using employment assistance funds. Support the establishment of safety production and skills training centers in areas where high-risk enterprises are concentrated. (7) Encourage vocational colleges to expand the scale of training. Support vocational colleges in conducting subsidized training, and expand the scale of training for workers, key employment groups, and impoverished laborers. Colleges and universities shall initiate the pilot program for the “diploma + several vocational skill level certificates” system, in accordance with the provisions set forth in the “Notice of the State Council on Issuing the Implementation Plan for the Reform of Vocational Education” (Guo Fa [2019] No. 4). When determining the total amount of performance-based pay for vocational colleges, preference may be given to institutions engaged in vocational skills training. Vocational colleges are permitted to allocate a certain percentage of their training revenues to the school’s general operating funds. The volume of training activities conducted by these schools can be converted into an equivalent workload for full-time student instruction at a specified ratio. When making internal allocations, vocational colleges should give priority to front-line teachers who are responsible for vocational skills training, ensuring they receive fair compensation. (8) Encourage and support social training and assessment institutions in carrying out vocational skill training and assessment. Continuously foster and strengthen social training and assessment institutions, support them in establishing platforms for peer exchanges, promote industry development, and enhance industry self-discipline. Private vocational training and assessment institutions enjoy the same treatment as public institutions of a similar nature in areas such as service procurement, school-enterprise cooperation, and the establishment of training facilities. (IX) Innovate training content. Strengthen comprehensive training in vocational skills, general professional qualities, and job-seeking abilities, integrating elements such as professional ethics, occupational standards, the spirit of craftsmanship, quality awareness, legal awareness and relevant laws and regulations, safety, environmental protection, and health and hygiene throughout the entire process of vocational skill training. Adhering to a demand-oriented approach, employment skills training in areas such as housekeeping, elderly care services, childcare, security, e-commerce, auto repair, electrical work, and women’s handicrafts is provided for occupations that are in high demand in the market ； Provide entrepreneurship guidance and training focusing on business management, brand building, market expansion, and risk prevention to foster entrepreneurship ； Carry out training in new industries such as advanced manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, modern service industries, as well as circular agriculture, smart agriculture, intelligent buildings, and smart city construction, in line with economic and social development ； Increase training in new occupations and skills related to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, etc. (10) Strengthen the development of basic capabilities for vocational skills training. Regions with the necessary resources can provide support for the upgrading and renovation of training facilities and equipment in enterprises, institutions of higher education, and training organizations. Support the establishment of training bases that integrate industry and education as well as public training bases, strengthen the development of vocational training institutes, and actively promote the joint creation and sharing of vocational skills training resources. Vigorously promote advanced training methods such as \"integration of work and learning,\" \"vocational training packages,\" and \"Internet+,\" and encourage the development of Internet-based training platforms. Strengthen the development of teaching staff; vocational colleges and training institutions should adopt a system of full-time and part-time teachers, and may recruit skilled professionals from enterprises to teach as permitted by regulations. Accelerate the development of vocational skills training materials, standardize management, and improve the quality of these materials. Improve training statistics, implement real-name management for subsidized training programs, explore the creation of electronic records for workers’ vocational training, ensure the sharing of training evaluation information with employment and social security data, and provide integrated services for training and employment. IV. Improve policies on vocational training subsidies and strengthen guidance and incentives. (XI) Implement policies on vocational training subsidies. Free vocational skills training programs are provided for children from poor families, poor workers, young people from rural areas, workers who have moved to cities for employment, those who have lost their jobs or been laid off as well as workers who have changed jobs, veterans, and persons with disabilities. Vocational training subsidies are granted to college graduates and enterprise employees in accordance with relevant regulations. For poor workers, those with difficulty finding employment, family members with no employment, rural trainees among the \"two young groups,\" and trainees from urban families receiving minimum living allowances, a living allowance is provided concurrently through employment subsidy funds in accordance with regulations during the training period. Employees of eligible enterprises who participate in pre-job training, safety skills training, retraining for job changes, or training to become junior, intermediate, senior workers, technicians, or senior technicians are entitled to vocational training subsidies or subsidies for improving the skills of insured employees, in accordance with relevant regulations. For employees who participate in the enterprise’s new apprenticeship program, the enterprise receives a vocational training subsidy of over 4,000 yuan per person per year, which can be used by the enterprise at its own discretion for apprenticeship training. Businesses, professional farmer cooperatives, poverty-alleviation workshops and other types of production and operation entities that employ poor workers and provide training through work, as well as enterprises with insurance coverage that hire individuals who have difficulty finding employment or members of families with no employment and offer training through work, shall be granted vocational training subsidies for a certain period, not exceeding 6 months at most. (12) Support local authorities in adjusting and improving vocational training subsidy policies. Workers who meet the requirements and obtain certificates (such as vocational qualification certificates, vocational skill level certificates, special vocational ability certificates, special operation permits, or training completion certificates) after attending training in their place of household registration, habitual residence, or where they are seeking employment will be eligible for vocational training subsidies in accordance with relevant regulations. In principle, each person can receive such subsidies no more than 3 times per year, and the same subsidy cannot be obtained for the same occupation at the same skill level. Provincial human resources and social security departments, as well as finance departments, may, in accordance with the established principles and taking into account actual circumstances, adjust the scope of individuals eligible for vocational training subsidies and living expenses subsidies, as well as the relevant requirements. Individuals who truly need training but do not qualify for monthly pension payments can be included within the scope of this policy. Human resources and social security departments at the municipal (prefectural) level and above, as well as finance departments, may determine the standards for vocational training subsidies in light of actual conditions, in accordance with the prescribed principles. At the county level and above, **it is possible to integrate various training funds and projects of relevant departments, thereby addressing the issues of fragmented funding sources and inconsistent management of such funds. For enterprises that conduct training or for training institutions that offer project-based training, a certain percentage of training subsidy funds can be allocated in advance; the specific percentage is determined by each province (region, city) based on local conditions. Local areas can carry out project-based training for groups such as poor workers, those unemployed due to capacity reduction, and veterans. (13) Increase financial support. Local governments at all levels **must increase financial support and efforts to raise and consolidate funds; a certain proportion of employment subsidy funds, local talent development funds, and funds allocated for industry and sector development toward vocational skill training, along with 100 billion yuan drawn from the surplus in unemployment insurance funds, should be used collectively for initiatives aimed at improving vocational skills. The surplus of unemployment insurance funds intended for vocational skill improvement initiatives in various regions is placed in a separate account designated as the \"Vocational Skill Improvement Initiative Account\" within the special financial account for social security funds. This account is used for vocational skill training for workers and other individuals, with separate accounting practices and dedicated use of funds; the specific methods for raising such funds will be established by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Enterprises must allocate and use sufficient funds for employee training in accordance with relevant regulations; more than 60% of these funds should be used for training frontline employees, and they can also be used to provide subsidies for the \"mentor-apprentice\" program within the enterprise. Implement the tax policy that raises the pre-tax deduction limit for enterprise employee education expenses to 8% of the total salary and wage costs. Promote an organic integration between enterprises’ allocation of funds for employee training to carry out self-directed training and their utilization of policies to receive subsidies for subsidized training, and explore the improvement of relevant mechanisms. Regions with the necessary resources can allocate funds to support fundamental activities such as the development of vocational training materials, teacher training, educational reform, and vocational skill competitions, as well as to provide incentives for organizing and mobilizing training efforts. (14) Strengthen the supervision and management of funds. It is necessary to strengthen the supervision of funds in accordance with the law, regularly disclose to the public information on the use of funds, enhance supervision, inspection, and special audits, strengthen the prevention and control of corruption risks, and ensure the safety and efficiency of these funds. Those who obtain or defraud funds through false training and other means shall be severely punished in accordance with laws and regulations. Mistakes and problems that arise in the training process should be handled differently, so as to maintain the enthusiasm of those working at the implementation level. V. Strengthen organizational leadership and enhance support measures (15) Reinforce the responsibilities of local authorities in this regard. Local governments at all levels **should regard the initiative to improve vocational skills as an important project related to people’s well-being, and earnestly assume their primary responsibilities. Provincial levels **should establish a coordination mechanism for the vocational skills improvement initiative, thereby creating a working framework in which provincial authorities take overall responsibility, relevant departments participate, and cities and counties carry out the implementation. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) should promptly formulate implementation plans, introduce policy measures, clarify task objectives, break down tasks, and establish a system for quarterly and annual reports on work progress. Municipal and county-level authorities **must formulate specific measures for implementation. Local authorities are encouraged to link financial subsidies to the performance of training programs, by increasing incentives in order to promote an expansion of training scales, improve the quality and level of such training, and ensure the effective implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing vocational skills. (16) Improve the working mechanism. Under the framework of the State Council’s Employment Work Leading Group, a coordination mechanism for vocational skill improvement initiatives is being improved, so as to fully leverage the roles of various parties including industry regulatory authorities and to create a unified effort in this regard. The human resources and social security departments are responsible for formulating policies, developing standards, integrating resources, managing training institutions, and overseeing quality control. They establish annual work plans, break down tasks, and ensure their implementation. The development and reform departments should coordinate the advancement of the construction of basic capabilities for vocational skills training. The education department should assign vocational colleges to undertake vocational skills training tasks. Departments such as those in charge of industry and information technology, as well as housing and urban-rural development, should play their role as industry regulators and actively participate in training efforts. The finance department must ensure that funds such as employment subsidies are allocated in a timely and full manner. The agriculture and rural affairs department is responsible for training professional farmers. The department in charge of veterans’ affairs is responsible for coordinating and organizing vocational skills training for veterans. Emergency management and coal mine safety supervision departments are responsible for guiding and coordinating safety skill training in high-risk industries such as the chemical sector and mining, as well as safety training for workers who perform special tasks. State-owned assets regulatory authorities should guide state-owned enterprises in carrying out vocational skills training. Other relevant departments and units should work together to carry out vocational skills training effectively. Support and encourage trade unions, the Communist Youth League, women’s federations and other mass organizations, as well as industry associations, to participate in vocational skills training. (17) Improve the level of training management services. Deepen the reform of \"delegating power, improving regulation, and optimizing services\" in vocational skills training. A catalog management system is implemented for subsidized vocational skill training, with catalogs of training programs as well as lists of training and evaluation institutions being published to enable workers to make choices based on their needs. Local authorities can purchase training and evaluation services through methods such as open bidding. Explore the use of credit payment and other methods to optimize the way training subsidies are disbursed. Establish an online service platform for handling training subsidies; in areas with the necessary resources, pilot a system based on commitment declarations for both training services and subsidy applications under project-based training models, in order to simplify procedures, reduce the number of required documents, and improve service efficiency. Strengthen supervision over training institutions and training quality, improve the training performance evaluation system, and actively support the conduct of third-party evaluations. (18) Promote the organic integration of vocational skills training and assessment. Improve diverse evaluation methods such as professional qualification assessment for skilled workers, determination of vocational skill levels, and specialized occupational competency testing; dynamically adjust the list of professional qualifications; regularly release information on new occupations; and accelerate the formulation and revision of vocational standards. Establish a system for recognizing vocational skill levels to provide workers with convenient training and assessment services. Workers in regulated professions must complete training and pass the assessment before they can take up their duties. Promote the seamless career development of highly skilled professionals and engineering and technical experts in the field of engineering. Enterprises are supported in independently carrying out assessments of employees’ vocational skill levels in accordance with relevant regulations; they are encouraged to establish titles such as senior technicians and top-level technicians to expand career development opportunities for skilled workers. (19) Strengthen policy interpretation and public opinion promotion. All regions and relevant departments should step up policy promotion efforts to increase public awareness of these policies, helping enterprises, training institutions, and workers to become familiar with them and make full use of them, thereby jointly promoting the development of vocational skills training. We will vigorously promote and foster the spirit of craftsmanship, implement policies and measures to improve the treatment of skilled workers, strengthen incentives and recognition for skilled personnel, actively organize various vocational skill competitions, and create a favorable environment for individuals to develop their skills.