In 2014, Taking people’s satisfaction as the primary target and reform and innovation as the overall view, the city’s public employment service agencies at different levels actively adapt to the economic “new normal” by seizing the golden opportunity of Yichang’s rapid development in order to create more and better employments. Owing to their high sense of responsibility and concerted efforts, the registered urban unemployment rate hit a record low, the employment situation remained stable and the employment and entrepreneurship entered a new stage of development.
A. Stable Employment Situation in Yichang
In 2014, the city\'s employment situation remained stable: urban newly-increased employments were 110,000, 46% higher than the original average provincial target; the number of reemployed workers reached 37,000, 147% of the provincial target; 20,000 people who have difficulties for finding jobs were employed as double the target;53,000 urban and rural residents were trained for finding employment or starting a new business, which exceeded the original target by 139%; newly increased small-sum guaranteed loan added up to 333 million yuan, 150% of the provincial target; 7562 people received business startup support and assistance from the government, 89% higher than the target; 30,000 employments were driven to be created, 177% of the provincial target; 109,000 rural migrant workers found urban employment, 146% of the provincial target; 488,500 people were covered by the unemployment insurance system, 0.6% above the provincial level; 310 million yuan unemployment insurance were collected, 10% higher than the provincial target; registered urban unemployment rate was 2.23%, down 0.87% year on year and 4.6% lower than the provincial target.
B. 100% Employment Rate of College Graduates
In 2014, Hubei Province released that 1111 college graduates from Yichang households did not find employment before graduation. However, 614 of them people later got jobs, 56 people became self-employed and 441 people achieved flexible employment so that graduate employment rate of Yichang reached 100%.
Yichang Human Resources and Social Security Bureau well did name registration and provided employment services for unemployed college graduates. It improved the information database of unemployed college graduates who came back to Yichang and provided services, such as vocational guidance, file hosting, sharing a collective registered residence and so on.
It brought employment services for college graduates into campuses, carried out a series of activities of “Employment&Business Startup Services for Universities in Hubei”, as well as jointly held the forum of “Employment in Yichang” with China Three Gorges University. To sum up, 22 campus activities were held; 298 people attended entrepreneur training; 33 people received small-sum guaranteed loans of 1.71 million yuan; 58 special job fairs were held, where 4,000 job intensions had been reached.
Various preferential policiesfor college students to work or set up business in Yichang had been put into practice comprehensively. For example, “Guiding Planning for College Enterperneurs” had been thoroughly implemented. Besides the existing one Provincial Incubation Demonstration Base for College Entrepreneurs, the proposal for a new base was submitted. It also applied for a total subsidy of 970.000 yuan for the demonstration bases, which would benefit 61 college students’ businesses, an year-on-year increase of 35.
It had also jointly carried out application for Provincial College Students Entrepreneurship Support Project with China Communist Youth League Yichang Committee and Education Bureau, involving 47 students’ entrepreneurship projects. 394 people of 8 schools in urban areas received a job hunting subsidy of 315,200 yuan and 31 people in 13 businesses received a small-and-micro business social security subsidy of 146,000 yuan. Moreover, it had also guided college graduates to work in counties and communities, recruiting 97 community network administrators from college graduates of Yichang urban household registrations.
C. Dynamic Clear-up of Zero-Employment Families
Municipal Labor and Employment Bureau grasped the opportunity of “Spring Breeze Action” (It is initiated by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to provide employment services for rural migrant workers in cities) and improved the service of “Circuit Diagram” to provide migrant workers with convenience to work near their homes. Public employment service agencies in Yichang had prepared enough jobs ahead with information publicity covering the whole city.
Job fairs had been held in 43 townships and 11 land requisition and demolishing villages around Yichang to bring jobs to their homes. And over 42,000 people got jobs near their homes during the period of this campaign.
We energetically develop rural service economy. Eight major Yichang-featured labor-service brands were selected based on the market conditions, such as artificers of Wufeng Tea Industry, liqueur brewers in Yiling District and so on, which promoted urban and rural laborers to realize higher quality of employment.
With the four major measures of ambition-motivation, skill-training, employment-assistance and whole-course care, we helped children from poor families to find stable jobs and develop themselves in an all-around way over 10 consecutive years by throughout care and tracking service. Cumulatively, 10,010 children from poor families have been supported in Yichang, and 9,233 of them have finished courses, 8,907 have got jobs with an employment rate of 96.5%. During “Employment Assistance Month”, municipal departments of Human Resources and Social Security interviewed 2,398 people with difficulties in finding jobs and organized 109 special job fairs, which helped 1,725 people find jobs and 1596 people enjoy related preferential policies. Public welfare posts have played its role in guarding baseline and protecting foundation to provide 2,411 jobs. Enterprises were encouraged to employ 6,380 people with difficulties in finding jobs and provided 9,504 people with jobs through flexible employment, labor service export and so on. A post subsidy of 58.03 million yuan and a social security subsidy of 83.59 million yuan have been issued. Moreover, a “one-to-one” assistance system had been set up for the groups who were in difficulties, such as landless farmers during the process of urbanization, expropriation and relocation, as well as zero-employment families, etc to fulfill the commitment of “around-the-clock employment recommendation” and help 65 persons coming from 48 zero-employment families to get jobs, achieving dynamic clear-up of zero-employment families for 9 consecutive years.
D. Highest Level for Small-sum Guaranteed Loan
Yichang government has been the first in Hubei province to raise college graduates’ small-sum guaranteed loan limit from 100,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan. According to No. 35 provincial government document, 63 million yuan has been transferred from unemployment insurance fund to supplement small-sum guaranteed loan, accounting for 64.3% of the fund balance of small-sum guaranteed loan in the whole city.
A financing mode of commercial tenants’ joint guaranty has been initiated to benefit entrepreneurs from other places and crack financing conundrum of small and micro businesses. 21.78 million yuan has been cumulatively issued to support 434 inPidual businesses as well as 13 small companies, offering more than 3,000 jobs, which has been specially reported by ZGSC.CHINA.COM.CN and promoted by municipal Government Information.
In 2014, Yichang Municipal Government had managed to obtain a small-sum guaranteed loan discount of 228 million yuan and a farm tourism funding support of 2.9 million yuan, as well as established 233 credit communities, benefiting 15,000 urban and rural entrepreneurs. The project of small-sum guaranteed loan discount and guarantee expense had been rated as model in municipal financial budget performance appraisal. We were therefore invited to share our experience with other cities in PA Research Council of provincial finance system. A total sum of 1.98 billion yuan of 38,000 loans had been issued, among which 333 million yuan of 4,769 loans were newly issued in 2014, an increase for 11 consecutive years, and 81 million yuan were allocated to 43 small labor-intensive businesses. (Reporter: Wang Suzhi, Correspondent: Wei Lihong)