Abstract: With the country’s quickening tempo of industrialization, urbanization, marketification and internationalization, the employment pressure and the hazard of unemployment that confront the peasants are becoming exceedingly great. These are mainly expressed by the facts that the covert unemployment in the countryside is getting increasingly overt, and that the amount of open unemployment rises greatly. In dealing with the situation, the central government should take precautions beforehand, mapping out plans in time and publishing corresponding measures.

Key words: Chinese peasants, covert unemployment, open unemployment, process of urbanization, national treatment