In Chinese employment law, the term “labor regulator” is an indefinite legal term that refers to the currently designated administrative agency empowered to regulate employment and labor matters. The labor regulator can be changed at any time with statutory amendments. In the 1990s, it was the Ministry of Labor, and now it is the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Under the Employment Contracts Act, the labor regulator formed under the State Council is empowered to administrate labor and employment matters nationally.

Currently, the national and local labor regulators in China formulate policy and implementing regulations, oversee labor markets and wage payments, administrate social security, and enforce employment and labor law.

China has labor regulatory offices at each level of government. Office locations are established in every county and city, for home rule cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, each district has an office. A province or home rule city’s government will have its own labor department, which reports to the governor or mayor, but simultaneously directly reports to the central government.

The national ministry is the supreme authority on all labor and employment matters, issuing national-level regulations and supervising the decisions of local governments. In practice, most rulemaking and enforcement authority is effectively delegated to local government labor departments, who coordinate their decisions with the other departments serving the governor or mayor based on local needs and expectations.