Quoting two independent sources Reuters reported on March 3, 2016, that China plans to lay off 5-6 million workers employed in State-owned Enterprises (SoE) over the next two to three years as part of efforts to curb industrial overcapacity and pollution. It said that obsessed with maintaining stability and making sure redundancies do not lead to unrest, China's leadership will spend nearly 150 billion yuan ($23 billion) to cover layoffs in just the coal and steel sectors in the next 2-3 years. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is said to have identified this as one of the government's priorities.