Chinese courts completed 317,000 labor dispute cases last year, according to a white paper titled "China's Human Resources" issued by the Information Office of the State Council on Friday.

According to Chinese law, parties that disagree with labor dispute arbitration award may institute proceedings to the people's courts.

The white paper says that settling labor disputes through mediation and arbitration is a remedial system with Chinese characteristics for safeguarding legitimate rights and interests of employees.

By the end of 2009, China had 33,000 arbitrators in some 4,800 arbitration organizations.

The paper says that in 2009 labor dispute arbitration organizations nationwide handled 875,000 cases. Some 684,000 cases were accepted for arbitration, a decrease of 1.3 percent compared to the previous year. The cases involved 1.017 million workers, a decrease of 16.3 percent compared to the previous year.