The anticipated massive layoffs in China in the coming years may not happen as companies have adopted measures to avoid such a scenario. Meanwhile, the central government is reportedly setting aside a budget of $15.4 billion (100 billion yuan) to help out the families and workers that could be affected by the job cuts.

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In a press conference on Sunday, China's National Development and Reform Commission head Xu Shaoshi listed several reasons why he thinks the country's job market continue to perform well.

"On the whole, I'm optimistic about China's job market," he told reporters at the annual parliamentary session.

Xu highlighted the growth in China's service industry as a major source of jobs for its citizens, thus avoiding further layoffs. The sector reportedly contributed more than 50 percent of China's total gross domestic product in 2015 - a milestone for the country.

As great strides are made in technology, particularly in the areas of social mobility and information exchange, Xu emphasized that finding a new job has become easier.

In the meantime, he noted that some companies have already employed a strategy that will help them keep their present manpower and prevent any job cuts - they have reportedly cut the working hours and salaries of their employees.

Another source of Xu's optimism in regards to the anticipated layoffs is the fact that China's economic aggregate is getting larger, despite its slow growth. Based on calculations, an additional of 1.6 million jobs are generated for every one percentage point leap in the country's GDP.

Despite the possibility that the massive layoffs may not happen afterall, China will be allocating a sizeable amount for two years to help the affected employees find a new job.

Preliminary forecasts revealed that up to 1.8 million workers could be laid off from China's steel and coal sectors.

Tagschina, layoffs, China Job Market, China economy