Enterprises given incentives to offer internships to ease unemployment

The State Council is encouraging State-owned enterprises and government bodies to expand their recruitment campaigns and offer more internship vacancies to young job seekers.

The notice released by the State Council recently said that at least 1 million internship positions will be offered by companies, government organs and social organizations this year, and these positions will be available to young job seekers and will provide living allowances and insurance.

In the notice, companies signing labor contracts for over one year with college students who have graduated within two years or those aged 16 to 24 who have been laid off, will be given one-time financial incentives. The incentive program runs until Dec 31.

"The job market has been in a stable recovery this year with epidemic control being normalized and stable growth. However, we still face new problems in employment because of the weaker foundation for the recovering job market," Yu Jiadong, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday. "The optimized measures included in the newly released notice are made on the basis of the current job market landscape."

According to the human resources ministry, about 2.97 million people landed jobs in urban areas in the first quarter, a year-on-year rise of 120,000 for the same period. The surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.3 percent in March, lower than the year's target of 5.5 percent.

"Young people, especially college graduates, face a lot of pressure in the job market and there is still a shortfall in highly skilled workers," said Yu.

The employment of college graduates was stressed in the State Council notice, with the group's population expected to reach a record high of roughly 11.58 million this year.

Li Jun, an official from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said at the news conference that the commission has called for State-owned enterprises to organize job fairs for college students from September.

"We have around 700,000 vacancies offered by 32,000 State-run enterprises and have received about 8.4 million resumes from college students. Also, we've stressed fair competition for these jobs with all discrimination against job seekers banned," he said.

In addition to encouraging companies, State-owned enterprises and government bodies to create more jobs for young job seekers, college graduates are being encouraged to apply for community jobs or to start their own businesses with preferential policies and financial allowances provided.

College graduates and migrant workers can access low-interest loans and streamlined administrative procedures to start their own businesses until Dec 31. They can also apply for loan extensions if their businesses are affected by natural disasters or emergencies.

The notice said that the nation will also channel more resources into improving skills training courses to help people find employment, and produce more skilled workers for the development of the digital economy, healthcare and manufacturing industries.

Wang Xiaojun, an official from the vocational capability construction department of the human resources ministry, said at the news conference that the ministry will build up a skills training mechanism so that all workers can learn and improve their skills during their lifetime.

Skills training courses will be more accessible to college graduates, migrant workers and people with difficulties finding employment because of old age or disabilities, Wang said.

She added that more uniform and State-level standards for skilled professions in the digital economy will be drafted to promote entrepreneurship and flexible employment.