China has recently announced a raft of specific measures aimed at stabilizing employment for rural migrant workers who have faced challenges returning to their old jobs or finding new ones as a result of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Photo shows migrant workers queueing up to enter Yichang East Railway Station. On March 23, a special train carrying 1,171 rural migrant workers departed from Yichang east railway station in Yichang, central China’s Hubei province, for Shenzhenbei railway station in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong province. The special train was the first trip made from Yichang for resumption of work. (Photo/People's Daily)

Efforts will be made to ensure that rural migrant workers return to work and find employment outside their hometowns in a safe and orderly manner, secure employment near their homes, and to guarantee employment for impoverished rural workers, according to a recent guideline issued by the General Office of the State Council.

There are currently 290 million migrant workers in China, 170 million of whom work outside their hometowns.

According to the guideline, which focuses on the implementation of the intensified measures to stabilize employment to cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the relevant departments will make efforts to ensure these workers return to employment and seek jobs in an orderly manner.

“Targeted” and “one-stop” services as well as a health information identification mechanism will be provided to help make it easier to resume work and production, according to You Jun, vice minister of human resources and social security.

Rural migrant workers will be brought to work en masse and in batches as soon as possible using special buses, special trains, and charter flights, You said.

“We have helped secure 400,000 workers from nearly 10,000 major enterprises, and transported more than 4.7 million rural migrant workers in multiple ways,” You explained.

Meanwhile, efforts have been made to help rural migrant workers find jobs in an orderly manner, You said, adding that the relevant departments have collected and published recruitment information in a timely manner, enhanced exchanges between cities where labor forces are exported and imported, encouraged online recruitment activities, and organized targeted exports of labor forces.

Thanks to the joint efforts of various parties, the proportion of companies that have resumed work and workers who have returned to their jobs across the country have been steadily increasing, according to Li Zhong, vice minister of human resources and social security.

100 million rural migrant workers have secured jobs outside their hometowns, a number that accounts for 80 percent of the migrant workers who returned home before the Spring Festival, Li said.

In a bid to stabilize employment for rural workers temporarily unable to find work in other cities, many Chinese cities have made efforts to help these people find work near their homes.

Chenzhou city in central China’s Hunan province has formulated policies to encourage rural migrant workers to seek local jobs.

According to the relevant policy, the city will award 800 yuan (about $112.9) to every rural migrant worker who returned to the city between Feb. 1 and March 31 and works continuously in enterprises in local industrial parks for at least six months.

The provincial department of human resources and social security of southwest China’s Sichuan province has collated information on the number and structure of workers needed in local enterprises and provided specific information to rural migrant workers according to their actual situations.

So far, more than 9 million migrant workers have returned to Sichuan for work.

Liupanshui city in southwest China’s Guizhou province has made efforts to increase local employment by expanding vegetable planting bases and optimizing varieties of vegetables in local areas.

The city has managed to raise the number of local farmers engaging in vegetable production by 7,000 compared to the previous year.

In order to help its poor population secure jobs and get rid of poverty as quickly as possible, the country has specified that impoverished labor forces should be prioritized in the recruitment plans of enterprises, major projects and construction of logistics systems, according to You.

In addition, efforts should be made to encourage enterprises to hire more poor laborers, said You, adding that companies who hire large numbers of poor laborers should be rewarded through dedicated government poverty alleviation funds.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) has actually been working together with the relevant poverty alleviation departments to help poor laborers secure employment since the COVID-19 outbreak, noted Shang Jianhua, head of the division of employment for rural migrant workers, MHRSS.

Relevant measures have been taken to offer timely recruitment information to poor counties and to encourage major companies producing anti-epidemic materials, living necessities and relevant supporting supplies to give priority to eligible poor laborers during the recruitment process, Shang said.

Areas suffering from extreme poverty and those with resettlement sites for relocated poor residents, as well as the 52 key poor counties, are considered the focus of these assistance efforts, and have been provided with dedicated plans and targeted services for resumption of work, according to Shang.

The country will continue to formulate favorable policies and create a sound environment that will help poor laborers find employment and increase their incomes, Shang said, revealing that efforts will be made to provide targeted jobs and vocational training, while organized export of labor forces will be intensified and the number of public welfare positions will be increased.

“We will create a good environment for poor laborers to find employment and increase their incomes to help them get rid of poverty as planned and also prevent the return of poverty caused by job losses because of the epidemic,” noted Shang.