Beijing, Feb 2 (IANS) China will create 400,000 jobs this year for ethnic minorities in the country’s western Xinjiang Uyghur region, the government said Thursday.
Ma Mingcheng, deputy head of the regional legislature, said people will also be able to sue their employers for discrimination based on race, gender, religion and disability.
These benefits are envisaged as part of a new government regulation, reports China Daily.
It embodies the “principle of fairness and attaches great importance to job creation for ethnic minorities”, Ma said.
Xinjiang is a desert region, with 40 percent of its population belonging to the Uyghur ethnic minority. Agriculture has been the region’s primary economic engine.
The lack of industries in the region has limited the job prospects for the residents.
The region’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent at the end of 2010, an official data showed.
