Underlining job creation

Fresh efforts are under way to create a vibrant and flourishing job market in Xiongan New Area in Hebei province, with focus largely on occupational training and startup incubators, local government officials said.

The move is considered essential to improve the area's business environment, as Xiongan is fast emerging as a destination of choice for overseas and domestic businesses but still has a lot to improve.

"Speaking of its labor market…a majority of workforce in Xiongan are farmers, but traditional industries like farming have smaller room for further development, as the area is eyeing more emerging businesses, investments, and is advancing to larger prosperity," said Zhou Minliang, an economist at the Institute of Industrial Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Occupational education helps local workforce to better adapt to Xiongan's improving business environment. Such efforts also benefit the local government in preventing possible social problems like massive unemployment," said Zhou.

According to an action plan put forward by the local government, occupational training will be provided to about 15,000 people this year in, among others, key sectors like e-commerce, environment, and public services.

"Those areas have a huge demand for workers and are important to the area's overall development, but many of their positions require less-advanced skills or expertise," Zhou said.

Besides promoting occupational education, the local government is encouraging new businesses. The plan is to set up three incubators and incubate around 500 startups this year.

They also assured further measures to create new jobs for the physically challenged. The overall efforts are likely to create 40,000 new job opportunities this year, according to the local government.