Taiyuan city, capital of North China's Shanxi province, helped 21,512 poor laborers find employment in 2020 -- an increase of 25 percent year-on-year and ranking it first in the province -- according to a statement from the city's human resources and social security bureau on Dec 11.

The achievement in poverty alleviation and employment was due to a series of measures carried out by local authorities. 

These involved vocational skill and entrepreneurship training, organizing poor laborers to apply for work and promoting the development of enterprises to help alleviate poverty. 

As of October, 8,105 poor laborers had received vocational training, of whom 7,338 had training in vocational skills.

During the same period, 8,600 poor laborers found jobs out of their hometowns, accounting for 49.59 percent of rural labor force employed out of hometowns. 

In the first half of the year, Taiyuan provided more than 10,000 jobs on online platforms. 

It helped poor labors find jobs based on their employment needs, enacted 28 measures to promote employment and established a one-to-one assistance mechanism in examination and approval services, financial support and reducing the burden on employers.

All 14 leading poverty alleviation enterprises and nine specialized farmer cooperatives resumed work and production. The number of poverty alleviation-oriented workshops increased to 22 from two at the start of the year. 

These enterprises, cooperatives and workshops employed 1,304 people from poor households -- benefiting 5,230 households with 10,798 people -- and increasing average annual household income by some 3,000 yuan ($458).