China to lay off 1.8 million coal and steel workers

An excavator moves coal onto a truck at a coal port in Lianyungang, eastern China's Jiangsu province on January 19, 2016.

China is expected to lay off 1.8 million workers as part of its efforts to reduce overcapacity in its industrial sectors. Officials from human resources and social security say the job losses will come from the coal and steel industries. China is aiming to remove 500 million tonnes of coal production in the next three to five years. Authorities haven’t yet given a time frame for the work losses to be implemented.

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