To further enhance people’s lives should be the starting point of economic and social development. Therefore, great efforts should be made to improve people’s lives, increase social employment, increase the income of the people, and improve the social security system, so that the economic and social development can benefit all the people.

Part 1. Considerably Increasing Employment

Employment has a vital bearing on the people's livelihood. Therefore, priority should be given to the increasing of employment in the economic and social development, coordinating employment in cities and rural areas, and enforcing an active employment policy.
Opening up more avenues for employment. Ningbo should properly deal with the relation between the capital-intensive industries and the labor-intensive industries. In its efforts to develop port-oriented industries, Ningbo should encourage the development of the labor-intensive industries that meet the demands of the market, the labor-intensive service enterprises, and the small and medium-sized enterprise. Great efforts should be made to develop the non-profiting job opportunities, open up more avenues for employment, and expand employment channels.
Improving employment services. Ningbo should coordinate the employment in cities and rural areas, and build a manpower market network that covers the cities and countryside. The city should standardize and develop intermediary services, and further improve the system of employment services. It should strengthen vocation training, to equip people with greater flexibility to have new jobs, to start their own businesses, and to be re-employed. The city should help the general public to change their mentality about employment, introduce flexible and diverse forms of employment, strengthen labor protection, and strengthen the supervision of the manpower market and the law enforcement so as to protect the interest of the working people. The job service should focus on the farmers whose farmland has been expropriated college graduates and unemployed workers.

Part 2. Improve Social Security System

The principles in the development of the social security system should be: coordinating the cities and rural areas, adapting to local conditions, adapting security standards to government's capacity, and adjusting the rights and the duties. Efforts should be made so that by 2010 Ningbo can have a social security system covering the cities and rural areas for old aged care, medical care, and poverty relief.
Gradually increasing social security coverage and standards. Ningbo should increase the social security coverage in both cities and rural areas. Efforts should be made so that by 2010 1,800,000 workers in cities and towns should enjoy the basic old-age insurances. The city should increase the proportion of social security expenditure in the increased local financial expenditure.
Improving the social security system. Ningbo should further improve the system for ensuring a minimum standard of living, make duly adjustment of the minimum standard, and give priority to the minimum security work in rural areas. Further efforts should be made for the concentrated support of the homeless in urban areas and the households enjoying the five guarantees in the countryside, and speed up the construction of social welfare homes and other social welfare facilities. The city should strengthen the relief of natural calamities, and the relief of the vulnerable, and the regular work of social donation and poverty relief. It should reform the social security administration, the systems of social security, social welfare, social special care, and social mutual aids so as to build a new social security system.
Efforts should be made to ensure the security of the aged. To meet the demand of the aging population, and establish a new old-age security system, a system that is based on home care, supported by the community welfare service and supplemented by social welfare organizations. A mechanism should be established to help the poverty stricken aged at the expense of the government. In its efforts to carry on the construction of the aged welfare facilities, by 2010, for 100 aged people, there should be 3 beds in the rest homes.

Part 3. Rationally Adjusting Income Distribution

Ningbo should deepen the reform of the income distribution system, and optimize the income adjusting mechanism to ensure all the people in urban and rural areas to be fairly benefited by the achievements of the economic and social development.
Improving the system of income distribution. The city should stick to the income distribution system under which distribution according to work is dominant and a variety of modes of distribution coexist, further rationalize the relations of income distribution, protect legitimate income according to law, confiscate the illegitimate income, increase the income of the low-income group, raise the proportion of the middle-income group, and adjust the excessively high income according to the law.
Optimizing the income distribution system. Ningbo should strengthen the function of the government in regulating income distribution, pay greater emphasis on social justice, and practice income policies favorable to those venerable and low-income groups. The city should standardize the payment transfer system, and improve the public financial and social relief system, to ensure people in urban and rural areas to fairly access the public services. The city should duly increase the minimum wage standard, and strictly implement the minimum subsistence allowances system.
Developing social charity. The city should encourage charity organizations, enterprises and other social organization to participate in social relief, so as to create an “All for one, one for all” environment. The city should take good care of those injured and the families of those killed in the service of their country, and help them solve difficulties in living, working and housing. The city should support the programs to help the physically and mentally challenged, and guarantee the rights of the disabled in healing and employment.

Part 4. Increasing Consumption of Urban and Rural Residents

Ningbo should improve the living standards of the people in urban and rural areas, and raise the consumption capacity of the people, especially the people in the countryside and the low-income people.
Ningbo should create hot consumption points. It should improve the nourishment structure of the public, optimize the diet components, and form a real property supply system that consists mainly of commercial houses, supplemented by economically affordable houses, administered-price houses, and tenement houses. In urban areas, the per capita housing should reach 28 sq. m. Ningbo should further promote the popularity of telephone, computer, and the internet. It will encourage the purchase of private cars, and the consumption in education, health, culture, tourism and other forms of entertainment. It needs to encourage the innovations in such services, so that they can meet the various individualized demands of the consumers.
Guiding consumer expectations. Ningbo should strengthen the reforms in education, and medical service, further improve public services, expand the coverage of social security, make efforts to resolve the actual difficulties of the consumers, and raise the overall consumption scale of the city. By 2010, the expenditure on service consumption should exceed 32% in the total consumption expenditure.
Enhancing the consumption environment. The city should improve the perfect the consumption policies, and enhance the consumption environment. It should strengthen the supervisions of prices of the commodity and services that concern people’s lives such as education, Medicare, and housing. It should check the excessive rise in price, and maintain a general stability of prices, put in place a system for credibility of individuals, expand the scope of consumer credit services, make intensive efforts to develop consumer credit, and perfect the system of leave wages.

Part 5. Creating a Perfect Living Environment

Ningbo should further improve the afforestaton, beautification, and purification of urban areas. It should carry on the systematic afforestation project in urban areas. The rehabilitation of the old towns should ensure sufficient space for afforestation. It should make intensive efforts to complete a number of key afforestation projects. The per capita green coverage in urban areas should reach 12.0 sq. m. and in the newly built urban areas the afforestation coverage should be above 37%.
Greater efforts should be made to promote the construction of ecological towns, improve the levels of urban planning and designing, and build ecological towns with their distinct features. In line with the principles of rational layout, scientific design, and unique style, the city should start in an all around way the construction of ecological villages in the process of urbanization.
The city should effectively protect natural resources of water, land, and forests, and make utmost efforts to treat waste gas, waste water and waste residue so as to create a sound living environment for the people both in urban and rural areas.