Rural residents in NW China's Ankang run family workshops for flexible employment

"Making money without leaving home plus learning skills. This is just perfect for families like ours," Ling Xiaofeng told People's Daily joyfully while making socks with 12 hosiery machines at home.

Since she started to run a family workshop to produce socks with her husband, the woman, who lives in Wuli township, Hanbin district, Ankang city, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has been busier but happier.

Photo shows a corner of Ling Xiaofeng’s workshop. (Media Convergence Center of Hanbin district/Zhou Tingsong)

"Since I need to stay home to look after my parents-in-law, I couldn't find a way to make money. It's all worked out now. Not only can my husband and I take care of our parents, but we make more than 10,000 yuan ($1,451) a month now. We are so happy about it," Ling said, couldn't help but praise the idea of "family workshop.”

Located in a mountainous area with barren land, Hanbin district was once trapped in deep poverty and local farmers could hardly secure access to food and clothing. Many male residents of the locality left their hometown to work as migrant workers, while women stayed at home to take care of the elderly and children. Although they have been lifted out of poverty, such families could easily slip back into poverty.

In the beginning of 2022, Hanbin district started to pilot "family workshops" in Wuli township and Dazhuyuan township to help housewives like Ling, who had to stay at home to take care of their family but had plenty of free time, to realize flexible employment at home.

After hearing the news, Ling quickly applied for the pilot project. Her husband, Wang Kaichun, who used to be a migrant worker, returned home to operate the family workshop together with his wife.

Ling Xiaofeng works in her workshop. (Media Convergence Center of Hanbin district/Zhou Tingsong)

Ling's family is among the first 13 local families that have been selected for the "family workshop" project.

Under the project, machines provided by companies were installed in people's homes. Local people can use these machines to process products after receiving training in relevant skills.

They are paid by companies according to the amount of the preliminarily processed products that pass acceptance inspection.

"I work by day and my husband works the night shift. We can make more than 600 yuan a day if our daily output can reach 6,000 pairs," Ling said.

"These hosiery machines are more like my 'dream weaving machines.' They help me realize the dream of making money at home. My husband and I have decided that we will buy more machines soon to expand our scale of production," Ling said happily.

Newly-employed workers make socks in Ling Xiaofeng’s workshop. (Media Convergence Center of Hanbin district/Zhou Tingsong)

So far, there are 40 families running such workshops in Hanbin district, and more are expected to join the project.

"We have invested more than 300 intelligent hosiery knitting machines and sewing machines for 40 family workshops, which involve more than 200 people. They have made up for the shortage of production capacity of enterprises, helped address the employment problem, reduced labor costs, and improved the performance of enterprises," said Fan Chuanbin, Party chief of Hanbin district.

The district will deploy 400 more family workshops this year to help more once impoverished residents increase their income, Fan added.