Red Star News:

Self-employed individuals are the capillaries of the national economy, underpinning employment expansion and the improvement of people's livelihoods. May I ask what progress the SAMR has made in promoting their development? What measures will be taken to promote their development quality? Thank you.

Pu Chun:

These are very good questions. Let's invite Mr. Ren to answer the questions.

Ren Duanping: 

Thank you for your questions. Self-employed individuals, which are the largest in number among China's market entities and an essential part of the private economy, play a critical role in stabilizing economic growth, promoting employment, and improving people's livelihoods. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of taking effective measures to support the development of self-employed individuals. The State Council released regulations on boosting the development of self-employed individuals, providing legislation guarantee in this regard. The SAMR will earnestly implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and continue to take effective measures to advance the sound and orderly development of self-employed individuals.

First, the SAMR has established a regular communication mechanism between itself and self-employed individuals. In line with the State Council's arrangements and requirements for building a regular communication mechanism, officials from the SAMR hosted three symposiums on self-employed individuals, engaged in face-to-face communication with representatives of self-employed individuals, and learned about their conditions, problems, and suggestions. By improving the problem transfer and supervision mechanism, we have better addressed common issues of concern to self-employed individuals and continued to optimize assistance measures.

Second, the SAMR launched a service month campaign and worked with 13 departments to establish a diverse assistance mechanism. In July 2023, the second session of the National Self-Employed Individuals Service Month campaign was initiated, during which a total of 29,200 symposiums on self-employed individuals were held. We visited approximately 4.3 million self-employed individuals, addressing problems and difficulties through 174,600 cases.

Third, the SAMR advanced targeted assistance for different categories and types of self-employed individuals. Based on the experience of 12 pilot provinces, the SAMR, along with 14 departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Taxation Administration, and the National Financial Regulatory Administration, released a guideline on targeted assistance for self-employed individuals of various types and categories. This guideline clarifies classification methods and cultivation measures for four types of self-employed individuals, including those striving for subsistence, growth, and development and those that are renowned, specialized, high-quality, and innovative.

With concerted efforts from various regions, local relevant departments, and all sectors of society, self-employed individuals nationwide have achieved stable and sound development, with an improved level of activity and increased revenues. By the end of 2023, the total number of registered self-employed individuals in the nation reached 124 million, accounting for 67.4% of business entities across China and providing employment for nearly 300 million people. The year 2023 saw 22.582 million newly registered self-employed individuals, marking an 11.4% increase year on year. Self-employed individuals act as the capillaries of industrial and supply chains and the nerve endings of markets. Their stable development sustains the hustle and bustle on the streets and maintains the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of families, demonstrating the strong vitality and resilience of the Chinese economy.

Next, the SAMR will focus on the following aspects to improve the quality of development of self-employed individuals in accordance with the deployments of the Central Economic Work Conference:

First, we will comprehensively promote targeted assistance based on different types and categories. We will guide local authorities to refine classification criteria, establish a unified national "List of Self-Employed Individuals," leverage the leading and exemplary role of enterprises featuring novel, special products of famous brands with high quality, and encourage various regions and departments to introduce more targeted policies and measures to support the development of self-employed individuals.

Second, we will give full play to the role of the "National Self-Employed Individuals Development Network," which was initially established and is being enriched in content and service resources. We will explore market-oriented means to provide services, including laws and policies, market supply and demand, recruitment information, entrepreneurship training, and financial support for self-employed individuals.

Third, we will create a favorable atmosphere. We will enhance the regular communication mechanism between the SAMR and self-employed individuals, address challenging issues, and continue to carry out the third edition of service activities for self-employed individuals nationwide. We will increase incentives and publicity for outstanding self-employed individuals, continue to monitor their activity, and thus better support their high-quality development. Thank you.