The Chinese government will encourage construction workers to establish medium-sized and small enterprises to promote the development of the country's construction industry, said Yi Jun, vice-minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development at a news conference on Monday.

About 40 percent of companies in Europe and the United States have less than 20 employees. There are only 5 million construction workers in the US but 800,000 construction companies. In China, there are only 80,000 construction companies for 50 million construction workers.

"In China's construction industry, we have almost no medium-sized and small companies that are featured with construction workers' specific expertise," Yi said.

He said about 30,000 labor agencies control the labor supply in the construction industry. If a group of construction workers want to win a contract for a construction project, they always have to do that via an agency. Most of these agencies don't grow well and many are shell companies.

"Many construction workers have the ability to start their companies in county cities in their hometowns. We will break the obstacles for them. This can also help construction workers settle down in cities," he said.

Yi also said there is a great need for construction in the country's rural areas, as rural residents' quality of life improves. Companies established by construction workers could well meet the need.