<div class="mxb">how cum they dun follow DBS?
<p> China moves to stem mass layoffs
</p>
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<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45216000/jpg/_45216703_-54.jpg" alt="Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building after a large toy factory closed in Guangdong province, southern China, on 17 October 2008" border="0" height="170" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="226" />
<div class="cap">China fears fast-rising unemployment could trigger social unrest
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<p class="first"><b>Companies in two Chinese provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have been told they must seek official consent if they want to lay off more than 40 people.</b>
</p>
<p>The order highlights the Chinese authorities' concern over mounting job losses.
</p>
<p>As China's main external markets plunge into recession and export orders shrink, layoffs have multiplied in the country's big manufacturing regions.
</p>
<p>In Shandong alone, nearly 700,000 people have lost their jobs this year. <!-- E SF -->
</p>
<p>In southern Guangdong, tens of thousands of firms have closed, sparking off reverse migration to the countryside by redundant workers.
</p>
<p>China's economic growth has slowed sharply this year to around 8 percent - high by world standards, but much less than the double-digit figures seen for years.
</p>
<p>If the one-off boost from the Olympics is factored in, even that number may be further reduced.
</p>
<p> China moves to stem mass layoffs
</p>
</div> <!-- S BO --> <!-- S IIMA -->
<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="226"> <tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div>
<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45216000/jpg/_45216703_-54.jpg" alt="Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building after a large toy factory closed in Guangdong province, southern China, on 17 October 2008" border="0" height="170" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="226" />
<div class="cap">China fears fast-rising unemployment could trigger social unrest
</div>
</div> </td>
</tr> </tbody>
</table> <!-- E IIMA --> <!-- S SF -->
<p class="first"><b>Companies in two Chinese provinces, Shandong and Hubei, have been told they must seek official consent if they want to lay off more than 40 people.</b>
</p>
<p>The order highlights the Chinese authorities' concern over mounting job losses.
</p>
<p>As China's main external markets plunge into recession and export orders shrink, layoffs have multiplied in the country's big manufacturing regions.
</p>
<p>In Shandong alone, nearly 700,000 people have lost their jobs this year. <!-- E SF -->
</p>
<p>In southern Guangdong, tens of thousands of firms have closed, sparking off reverse migration to the countryside by redundant workers.
</p>
<p>China's economic growth has slowed sharply this year to around 8 percent - high by world standards, but much less than the double-digit figures seen for years.
</p>
<p>If the one-off boost from the Olympics is factored in, even that number may be further reduced.
</p>
