China to ensure employment, increase incomes for people in need

China will beef up targeted support to people in poverty by creating more jobs and smoothing channels of farm produce sales to offset the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, officials said Friday.

Job seekers wait at a fair in the Hannan district of Wuhan, Hubei province, on April 21, 2020. [Photo/China Daily]

National projects that create more jobs and incomes for the poor will enjoy priority in work resumption and policy support, Wu Hua, an official with the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, told a press conference.

About 74.1 percent of poverty alleviation projects have broken ground as of April 10, according to Wu.

Millions of new jobs in various industries are now available for the poor laborers, including forest rangers, photovoltaic power plant workers and road maintenance workers, he said.

Agricultural products produced in impoverished regions will enjoy more support in financing and logistics, said Chen Hongbo, another official from the leading group office, stressing the role of e-commerce platforms.

Chen also noted that much attention has been given to the hardest-hit province of Hubei to help the region fight poverty and economic shock from COVID-19.

The country has taken multiple moves, including increasing fiscal support, helping poor migrant workers back to their workplaces in other provinces, and promoting the sales of local agricultural products, he said.

As of April 10, up to 323,100 poor laborers from Hubei have started working outside the province, according to Chen.

Chen said more support is in the pipeline to ensure that Hubei will achieve the goal of poverty elimination as scheduled.