Xi'an acts, paving way for job market to stabilize

The employment picture in the city of Xi'an – capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – is understood to be showing definite signs of stability.

That's particularly in the wake of the start of the year, when its human resources and social security department successively rolled out a series of measures designed to shore up the jobs market.

These include initiatives to strengthen and expand employment and measures to further support college and university student innovation and entrepreneurship.

By the end of September, some 143,185 new jobs had been created in the city, completing 102.28 percent and 98.75 percent of the provincial and municipal examination targets, respectively. Moreover, 33,901 unemployed people were re-employed and 5,333 people with employment difficulties were hired.

The city had helped 341,000 migrant workers return to work in an orderly manner, as well as resolved employment placements for 92 family members of soldiers and more than 100 unemployed family members.

In addition, 10 business incubators were built and 633 million yuan ($88.27 million) in guaranteed loans for business startups were issued, creating more than 97,000 jobs.

As of the end of October, the city had organized nearly 400 public job fairs of various types, providing nearly 900,000 jobs.

Furthermore, the city has reduced unemployment and work-related injury insurance premiums by 2.42 billion yuan in stages, issued 970 million yuan in return funds for job stabilization, and deferred payments of 94.35 million yuan in unemployment and work-related injury insurance premiums during the period.

Moving forwards, plans are for Xi'an to optimize its entrepreneurial landscape, improve policies for innovation and entrepreneurship and do an efficient job in the employment of key groups such as graduates, migrant workers, retired soldiers and those with employment difficulties.