Virus-hit Hubei province to boost employment for poor residents

WUHAN -- Coronavirus-hit Hubei Province in central China will launch a series of measures to boost employment of poor residents and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on poverty alleviation, a provincial poverty relief official said Monday.

Hu Chaowen, director of the provincial poverty relief office, said the province would hire 66,800 forest rangers and create some 50,000 "welfare jobs" for those having difficulties getting work on the job market.

Each impoverished migrant worker is entitled to a 200 yuan (about $28) living allowance and employers will get employment subsidies for taking in the jobless, Hu said.

Financial tools will also be used to help the poor get through this difficult time, including handing out low-interest loans up to 1 million yuan to small startups that could hire more than 10 poor farmers.

Hu said the unexpected epidemic has brought challenges to employment of poor migrant workers, sales of farm produce, and poverty-relief industries and projects. The province will increase the input and strengthen the assistance to help the remaining 58,000 people living below the poverty line cast off poverty this year.

Hubei has been at the front line of China's battle against the novel coronavirus. The province has registered 67,803 confirmed COVID-19 cases by Sunday.