On June 17, China's State Council released the "15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment-First Strategy" (FYP), intended to supplement the 15th FYP for economic development , released in March and the key guiding document for China's economic policy from 2026-2030. The employment FYP lays out both job market challenges and Beijing's goals for managing a massive and quickly aging working population, estimated by China's National Bureau of Statistics to number 851 million people in 2025, down 0.8% from 2024. It places a particular emphasis on wielding new technologies, like AI, to boost employment while minimizing job destruction. The FYP was published as Beijing seeks to revive consumption levels following the COVID-19 pandemic, alleviate societal discontent over growing wage inequality and seemingly shrinking job opportunities and deter youth protests .