（三）以保障和改善民生為重點(diǎn)，全面提高人民物質(zhì)文化生活水平。2003年抗擊突如其來的非典疫情給我們的重要啟示之一，就是要統(tǒng)籌經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展。這些年我們?cè)诎l(fā)展經(jīng)濟(jì)的同時(shí)，更加重視保障改善民生和發(fā)展社會(huì)事業(yè)，政府工作力度之大、財(cái)政投入資金之多前所未有。經(jīng)過不懈努力，我國經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展的協(xié)調(diào)性明顯增強(qiáng)。當(dāng)前社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)、社會(huì)組織形式、社會(huì)利益格局發(fā)生深刻變化，社會(huì)矛盾明顯增多。我們必須把保障和改善民生作為政府一切工作的出發(fā)點(diǎn)和落腳點(diǎn)，放在更加突出的位置，著力加強(qiáng)社會(huì)建設(shè)。

千方百計(jì)擴(kuò)大就業(yè)。堅(jiān)持實(shí)施就業(yè)優(yōu)先戰(zhàn)略和更加積極的就業(yè)政策，通過穩(wěn)定經(jīng)濟(jì)增長和調(diào)整經(jīng)濟(jì)結(jié)構(gòu)增加就業(yè)崗位，加強(qiáng)職業(yè)技能培訓(xùn)，提高勞動(dòng)者就業(yè)創(chuàng)業(yè)能力，加大投入和政策支持，完善就業(yè)服務(wù)體系，鼓勵(lì)創(chuàng)業(yè)帶動(dòng)就業(yè)，做好重點(diǎn)人群就業(yè)工作，促進(jìn)城鄉(xiāng)居民收入持續(xù)穩(wěn)定增長。

完善社會(huì)保障制度。堅(jiān)持全覆蓋、保基本、多層次、可持續(xù)方針，不斷擴(kuò)大社會(huì)保障覆蓋面，提高統(tǒng)籌層次和保障水平，加強(qiáng)各項(xiàng)制度的完善和銜接，增強(qiáng)公平性，適應(yīng)流動(dòng)性，保證可持續(xù)性。今年企業(yè)退休人員基本養(yǎng)老金繼續(xù)提高10%，城鄉(xiāng)低保和優(yōu)撫對(duì)象補(bǔ)助標(biāo)準(zhǔn)也進(jìn)一步提高。要加大對(duì)社會(huì)養(yǎng)老服務(wù)體系和兒童福利機(jī)構(gòu)建設(shè)的支持力度。

深化醫(yī)藥衛(wèi)生事業(yè)改革發(fā)展。鞏固完善基本藥物制度和基層醫(yī)療衛(wèi)生機(jī)構(gòu)運(yùn)行新機(jī)制，加快公立醫(yī)院改革，鼓勵(lì)社會(huì)辦醫(yī)。扶持中醫(yī)藥和民族醫(yī)藥事業(yè)發(fā)展。健全全民醫(yī)保體系，建立重特大疾病保障和救助機(jī)制，全面開展兒童白血病等20種重大疾病保障試點(diǎn)工作。今年新農(nóng)合和城鎮(zhèn)居民基本醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)財(cái)政補(bǔ)助標(biāo)準(zhǔn)由每人每年240元提高到280元，人均基本公共衛(wèi)生服務(wù)經(jīng)費(fèi)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)由25元提高到30元。

逐步完善人口政策。堅(jiān)持計(jì)劃生育基本國策，適應(yīng)我國人口總量和結(jié)構(gòu)變動(dòng)趨勢(shì)，統(tǒng)籌解決好人口數(shù)量、素質(zhì)、結(jié)構(gòu)和分布問題，促進(jìn)人口長期均衡發(fā)展。重視發(fā)展老齡事業(yè)，切實(shí)保障婦女和未成年人權(quán)益，關(guān)心和支持殘疾人事業(yè)。

加強(qiáng)和創(chuàng)新社會(huì)管理。改進(jìn)政府提供公共服務(wù)方式，加強(qiáng)基層社會(huì)管理和服務(wù)體系建設(shè)，完善村民自治、城市居民自治制度，保證人民群眾依法直接行使民主權(quán)利，管理基層公共事務(wù)和公益事業(yè)。改革社會(huì)組織管理體制，引導(dǎo)社會(huì)組織健康有序發(fā)展。建立健全維護(hù)群眾權(quán)益機(jī)制，完善人民調(diào)解、行政調(diào)解、司法調(diào)解聯(lián)動(dòng)的工作體系，健全法律援助制度，推動(dòng)涉法涉訴信訪工作改革，暢通和規(guī)范群眾訴求表達(dá)、利益協(xié)調(diào)、權(quán)益保障渠道，健全重大決策社會(huì)穩(wěn)定風(fēng)險(xiǎn)評(píng)估和突發(fā)事件應(yīng)急管理機(jī)制，維護(hù)社會(huì)公共安全，促進(jìn)社會(huì)和諧穩(wěn)定。食品藥品安全是人們關(guān)注的突出問題，要改革和健全食品藥品安全監(jiān)管體制，加強(qiáng)綜合協(xié)調(diào)聯(lián)動(dòng)，落實(shí)企業(yè)主體責(zé)任，嚴(yán)格從生產(chǎn)源頭到消費(fèi)的全程監(jiān)管，加快形成符合國情、科學(xué)合理的食品藥品安全體系，提升食品藥品安全保障水平。強(qiáng)化公共安全體系和企業(yè)安全生產(chǎn)基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)，遏制重特大安全事故。

加強(qiáng)房地產(chǎn)市場調(diào)控和保障性安居工程建設(shè)。堅(jiān)決抑制投機(jī)、投資性需求，抓緊完善穩(wěn)定房價(jià)工作責(zé)任制和房地產(chǎn)市場調(diào)控政策體系，健全房地產(chǎn)市場穩(wěn)定健康發(fā)展長效機(jī)制。繼續(xù)抓好保障性安居工程建設(shè)和管理，讓老百姓住上放心房、滿意房。今年城鎮(zhèn)保障性住房基本建成470萬套、新開工630萬套，繼續(xù)推進(jìn)農(nóng)村危房改造。

教育和科技在現(xiàn)代化建設(shè)中具有基礎(chǔ)性、先導(dǎo)性、全局性作用，文化是民族的血脈和人民的精神家園，必須放在更加重要的戰(zhàn)略位置。

繼續(xù)推進(jìn)教育優(yōu)先發(fā)展。目前我國年度財(cái)政性教育經(jīng)費(fèi)支出總額已經(jīng)超過2萬億元，今后還要繼續(xù)增加，必須把這些錢用好，讓人民滿意。要進(jìn)一步深化教育綜合改革，切實(shí)解決社會(huì)普遍關(guān)注的重大問題。著力推動(dòng)義務(wù)教育均衡發(fā)展，加快發(fā)展現(xiàn)代職業(yè)教育，提高各級(jí)各類教育質(zhì)量，進(jìn)一步促進(jìn)教育公平，為國家發(fā)展提供強(qiáng)大的人力資源支撐。

深化科技體制改革。推動(dòng)科技與經(jīng)濟(jì)緊密結(jié)合，著力構(gòu)建以企業(yè)為主體、市場為導(dǎo)向、產(chǎn)學(xué)研相結(jié)合的技術(shù)創(chuàng)新體系。瞄準(zhǔn)關(guān)系全局和長遠(yuǎn)發(fā)展的戰(zhàn)略必爭領(lǐng)域，加強(qiáng)基礎(chǔ)研究、前沿先導(dǎo)技術(shù)研究。健全科技資源開放共享機(jī)制，完善支持科技發(fā)展和成果應(yīng)用轉(zhuǎn)化的財(cái)稅、金融、產(chǎn)業(yè)技術(shù)和人才政策，創(chuàng)造公平開放的創(chuàng)新環(huán)境，最大限度地調(diào)動(dòng)廣大科技工作者的積極性、主動(dòng)性，激發(fā)全社會(huì)的創(chuàng)新活力。

扎實(shí)推進(jìn)文化建設(shè)。把文化改革發(fā)展納入經(jīng)濟(jì)社會(huì)發(fā)展總體規(guī)劃，列入各級(jí)政府效能和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)干部政績考核體系，推動(dòng)文化事業(yè)全面繁榮、文化產(chǎn)業(yè)快速發(fā)展。政府要履行好發(fā)展公益性文化事業(yè)的責(zé)任，加快推進(jìn)重點(diǎn)文化惠民工程，完善公共文化服務(wù)體系。廣泛開展全民健身運(yùn)動(dòng)，促進(jìn)群眾體育和競技體育全面發(fā)展。

大力加強(qiáng)社會(huì)公德、職業(yè)道德、家庭美德、個(gè)人品德教育。推動(dòng)誠信體系建設(shè)，以政務(wù)誠信帶動(dòng)商務(wù)誠信和社會(huì)誠信，形成良好的社會(huì)風(fēng)尚。

3. Giving high priority to ensuring and improving people's wellbeing and comprehensively improving their material and cultural lives

An important lesson we learned in our response to the sudden outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 is that economic development and social development need to be coordinated. In developing the economy in the years since then, we have placed greater importance on ensuring and improving people's wellbeing and developing social programs, and the government has made greater efforts and provided more funding in this area than ever before. These unremitting efforts have resulted in much better coordination of China's economic and social development. The structure of Chinese society, its forms of organization, and the pattern of interests in society have all undergone profound changes, and social problems have increased markedly. We must make ensuring and improving people's wellbeing the starting point and goal of all the government's work, give higher priority to it, and strive to strengthen social development.

We should do all we can to increase employment. We should persevere in implementing the strategy of giving top priority to employment and adopt a more proactive employment policy. We should create more jobs by maintaining stable economic growth and adjusting the economic structure and provide better vocational skills training to help people to find jobs or start their own businesses. We should increase government spending and policy support, improve the employment services system, stimulate employment by encouraging business startups, assist target groups in finding jobs, and stimulate sustained, steady increases in urban and rural incomes.

We should improve the social security system. We should continue to follow the policy of making coverage universal, ensuring basic care, and providing multilevel and sustainable social security. We should expand the coverage of social security, turn over the overall management of social security accounts to higher-level authorities, raise social security benefits, improve and coordinate all social security programs, make social security more equitable and sustainable, and facilitate the smooth transfer of social security accounts between localities. This year, basic old-age pensions for enterprise retirees should be raised by another 10%, and subsistence allowances for urban and rural residents and subsidies for entitled groups should also be further raised. Greater support should be given to developing child welfare agencies and the system of social services for the elderly.

We should advance reform and development of medical and health care services, consolidate and improve the system for using basic drugs and the new operating mechanisms of community-level medical and health care institutions, speed up the reform of public hospitals, and encourage nongovernmental bodies to operate hospitals. We should support development of traditional Chinese medicine and ethnic minority medicine. We should improve the universal medical insurance system, establish a mechanism to provide insurance and aid for treating major and very serious diseases, and conduct a pilot project to insure against 20 serious diseases. (Note: They are childhood leukemia, congenital heart disease in children, uremia, breast cancer, cervical cancer, holergasia, drug-resistant tuberculosis, opportunistic AIDS and HIV infection, lung cancer, esophagus cancer, gastric cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia, acute myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, hemophilia, type 1 diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and cheilopalatognathus.) This year, annual government subsidies for the new rural cooperative medical care system and basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents should be raised from 240 yuan to 280 yuan per person respectively, and the per person payment standard for basic public health services should be increased from 25 yuan to 30 yuan.

We should progressively improve the government population policy. We should adhere to the basic state policy on family planning. In response to changes in the size and structure of China's total population, we should comprehensively solve problems relating to the size, health, structure and geographical distribution of the population and promote long-term, balanced population development. We should boost the development of elderly services, protect the rights and interests of women and minors, and take an interest in and support programs that benefit people with disabilities.

We should strengthen and make innovations in social management. We should improve the way the government provides public services, strengthen the system of social management and services at the community level, and improve self-governance by villagers and urban residents, to ensure that the people directly exercise their democratic rights in accordance with the law by managing community-level public affairs and running public service programs. We should reform the management system for social organizations, and guide their sound and orderly development. We should establish a sound mechanism for safeguarding people's rights and interests; improve the integrated system of mediation by the people, administrative mediation and judicial mediation; strengthen the system of legal assistance; and carry out reform of the handling of people's complaints about legal and litigation-related issues. We should maintain open and regular channels for people to voice their demands, and we should coordinate the people's interests and protect their rights and interests. We should improve the mechanism for assessing potential risks major policy decisions may pose to social stability and the emergency response mechanism. The purpose of all this work is to preserve law and order and promote social harmony and stability.

Food and drug safety is a prominent issue of widespread concern. We should reform and improve mechanisms for overseeing and supervising food and drug safety and strengthen overall coordination. We should require enterprises to assume primary responsibility for safety, exercise strict oversight and supervision throughout the whole process from production to consumption, and move faster to establish a scientific and effective food and drug safety system that suits China's national conditions so as to better ensure food and drug safety. We should strengthen the public safety system and improve workplace safety conditions to prevent accidents, especially major and very serious ones.

We should tighten regulation of the real estate market and strengthen construction of government-subsidized housing. We need to firmly rein in speculative and investment-driven housing demand, promptly improve the accountability system for stabilizing housing prices and the policies for regulating the real estate market, and strengthen mechanisms for sustaining its steady and sound development. We should continue to build and manage government-subsidized housing for the people so they have housing they are satisfied with. This year, 4.7 million government-subsidized urban housing units should be basically completed, construction of another 6.3 million units should begin, and renovation of dilapidated rural houses should continue.

Education, science and technology play a fundamental, guiding and global role in the country's modernization drive, and culture is essential for the long-term vitality of a nation and gives the people a sense of belonging. They must therefore occupy a position of greater strategic importance.

We should continue to give top priority to developing education. China's annual government expenditures on education already exceed two trillion yuan and should continue to increase. We must make good use of such funding to the satisfaction of the people. We need to deepen comprehensive education reform and effectively solve major issues of public concern. We should boost balanced development of compulsory education, accelerate development of modern vocational education and raise the quality of education of all types and at all levels. This should help make education more equitable and provide strong human resources support for China's development.

We should deepen reform of the management system for science and technology. We should integrate science and technology more closely with the economy, and establish a technological innovation system that is based on enterprises, guided by the market, and integrates enterprises, universities and research institutes. We should focus on priority areas of strategic importance that are vital to China's overall and long-term development, and strengthen basic research and research on frontier and leading technologies. We should improve the mechanism for openly sharing scientific and technological resources and the fiscal, taxation, banking, industrial technology and personnel policies that support scientific and technological development and industrial application of scientific and technological advances, create a fair and open environment for making innovations, keep scientists and technicians fully motivated, and unleash the creativity of the whole society.

We should effectively advance development of the cultural sector. We should incorporate reform and development of the cultural sector into general plans for economic and social development, and include them in the system for evaluating the performance of governments and officials at all levels so as to promote all-around cultural prosperity and fast development of the cultural sector. The government needs to fulfill its responsibility to develop nonprofit cultural programs, accelerate key cultural projects for the people, and improve the system of public cultural services. We should extensively carry out public fitness activities and promote comprehensive development of both recreational and competitive sports.

We should greatly increase education in public morality, professional ethics, family virtues, and personal integrity. We should promote a creditability system, use political integrity to improve business and public integrity, and foster healthy social conduct.