Communique of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (hereinafter referred to as the Communique) states that “investing in tangible assets and investing in people are closely integrated”. In 2025, “investing in people” was first included in the Government Work Report.
In the more than 5,000-character Communique, the phrase “addressing the pressing difficulties, troubles, anxieties, and aspirations of the people” appears twice.
“Investing in people” means “ensuring access to childcare, education, employment, medical care, elderly care, housing, and support for the vulnerable”.
Five-Year Plans are not only “state affairs” but also “family matters” that concern every individual.
China is now on the verge of accomplishing the major objectives and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development has been put on paper. The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing from October 20th to 23rd, 2025. The meeting deliberated over and adopted the Proposals of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (hereinafter referred to as the Proposals).
“The most important outcome of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the deliberation and adoption of the Proposals,” Jiang Jinquan, Director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee, stated at a press conference on October 24. He introduced that the Proposals is divided into 15 sections with 61 articles, covering three major parts.
He mentioned that the Proposals had extensively solicited opinions from various regions, departments, the general public, and all sectors of society, receiving over 3.113 million valid suggestions. After the draft for comment was formulated, it further received 2,112 revision proposals, of which 452 were adopted following in-depth study, with an adoption rate of 21.4%.
In accordance with previous practices, the Proposals and its supporting Explanation will be released simultaneously or shortly afterward. The full text of the Plan Outline will be deliberated and adopted at the National People’s Congress (NPC) in March of the following year.
On October 23rd, the Communique of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was released, from which people can already get clues about the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Investing in People
The Communique points out that the fundamental purpose of the 15th Five-Year Plan is to meet the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life. The key to improving people’s quality of life lies in having money to spend and being willing to spend it.
“The ‘source of living water’ for consumption lies in people’s income, which forms their consumption capacity,” Jia Kang, Founding Dean of the China Academy of New Supply-side Economics and Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, told Southern Weekend. He stated that effective investment generates employment, and stable employment brings about steady income and expectations. This will naturally build people’s consumption capacity and unlock China’s true consumption potential.
Where does effective investment come from? The Communique mentions the need to “closely integrate investing in tangible assets with investing in people”.
Jia Kang explained that investing in tangible assets refers to areas such as the improvement of infrastructure and supporting real estate facilities. Investing in people, on the other hand, focuses on the all-round development of the people, which includes “ensuring access to childcare, education, employment, medical care, elderly care, housing, and support for the vulnerable”. In addition to government participation, non-governmental entities can also be guided to develop in a sound manner, with joint participation through public welfare or market-based approaches.
In 2025, “investing in people” was included in the Government Work Report for the first time, which states that “more financial resources should be channeled into ‘investing in people’ to serve people's wellbeing”.
Jia Kang stated that currently, people are “holding onto their money” due to various concerns about the future. “This requires improving the social security system as a supporting measure to address people’s worries and enable them to consume without hesitation,” he said.
He noted that the earlier initiative of “benefiting the people’s wellbeing” already emphasized policy support to ensure the basic livelihoods of low-income groups, foster and expand the middle class, improve social security for all members of society, and explicitly proposed advancing the equalization of basic public services.
Jia Kang noted that the phrase “addressing the pressing difficulties, troubles, anxieties, and aspirations of the people” appears twice in the more than 5,000-character communiqué. “This highlights the high priority given to people’s wellbeing,” he said.
Having money to spend, daring to spend, and being willing to spend also depends on having good products worth buying.
The Communique mentions, “Guiding new supply with new demand and creating new demand with new supply.”
In Jia Kang’s view, the cognitive framework of the New Supply-side Economics holds that demand is the primary driving force for the development of human society, but the satisfaction of demand depends on the response of effective supply. As the “primary driving force”, innovation mainly occurs on the supply side. A case in point is Steve Jobs, who stimulated people's demand for smartphones through supply-side innovation.
High-Quality and Sufficient Employment
The ability to consume depends on having an income, and the key to having an income lies in employment.
The Communique mentions, “Promoting stable employment for key groups and intensifying efforts to address wage arrears.” Key groups typically include college graduates, migrant workers, people lifted out of poverty, and groups facing employment difficulties.
Jia Kang pointed out that in many current situations, the term “peasants” is clearly disconnected from reality. Most of them have been employed in cities and towns for a long time, but due to their household registration remaining in their hometowns, they and their families still face inequities in basic public services such as elderly care, medical care, housing, and children’s education. In fact, this group of social members, referred to as migrant workers, experiences insufficient employment.
Jia Kang suggested that in terms of supporting youth employment, efforts should continue to promote village official internships, provide graduates with employment buffer arrangements, optimize the education structure, and increase the training of vocational and technical talents.
Yu Miaojie, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and President of Liaoning University, told Southern Weekend that universities should align with the needs of national development, closely follow the country’s requirement to “optimize and upgrade traditional industries, foster and expand emerging industries, and develop future industries,” and adjust the distribution of disciplines and majors.
For example, Liaoning University has optimized the offering of discipline inspection and supervision studies in its law courses, added emerging disciplines such as artificial intelligence, and at the same time eliminated outdated majors that face employment difficulties and low social demand.
Yu Miaojie believes that for the employment of students with a college degree or above, the focus is on addressing two major issues: “supply-demand mismatch” and “expectation adjustment”.
On one hand, universities should strengthen university-enterprise collaboration. This allows students to gain a direct understanding of market needs while enabling universities to proactively share information about student training with employers. On the other hand, universities should guide students to adjust their employment expectations, helping them view the job market objectively, encouraging them to match positions based on their own conditions, and then achieve career goals through accumulation and development.
Yu Miaojie also mentioned that it is necessary to enhance the employment sufficiency of the flexible employment group, transforming their status from “having work to do ‘to’ securing more orders and achieving greater stability”.
Data provided by Meituan to Southern Weekend shows that in 2024, the average monthly income of high-frequency Meituan riders nationwide ranged from 6,650 yuan to 9,344 yuan. The average income of high-frequency riders in various regions was still slightly higher than the local residents’ average income, with a significant increase in the average income of riders in lower-tier and medium-tier cities. Additionally, 86% of management positions within Meituan’s delivery ecosystem were promoted from riders.
Regarding employment, the Communique mentioned the term “high-quality and sufficient employment”. Yu Miaojie explained that “high-quality” means that employed individuals should have a clear career development path and realize all-round personal development beyond having income as a livelihood guarantee. “Sufficient” refers to keeping the unemployment rate at a reasonable and moderate level. Based on China’s actual conditions, the standard for potential full employment rate is to control the urban and rural unemployment rate at around 5% or below.
