"Thanks to the Yuxian labor and employment training center, which trained 50 technicians for us, our company can start production as scheduled after an assets restructuring," said Hao Guoping, technical manager of Shanxi Hengyao Chemical Co on Oct 19. 

The chemicals company and 50 new employees are both beneficiaries of a mass vocational skills improvement project -- implemented by the human resources and social security bureau of Yuxian county in Yangquan city from the start of the year -- which officials say has achieved remarkable results. 

More than 3,000 peasants and laid-off workers in the county had participated in the training project by the end of September. 

Among the trainees, over 1,000 were subsequently employed with a monthly income above 2,000 yuan ($283.9) on average. 

Over the first three quarters of the year, Yuxian county mobilized urban unemployed people, rural laborers and unemployed college graduates to participate in a skills training project. 

Officials said it did this by hanging promotional banners and through publicity spots on radio, television and via social networking applications – as well as holding job fairs to boost employment levels. 

The officials said the Yuxian human resources and social security bureau identified six local training institutions to be its partners who had a good reputation, full range of disciplines, strong faculty teams and social responsibility.

The six training institutions 16 professional programs including housekeeping, Chinese cooking, massage, hand weaving, flower cultivation, electric welding and cosmetology. 

The vocational skills training project has also been carried out in local companies, especially those that are involved in industrial transformation. The project has trained 503 employees for several local private companies and collectives. 

In addition, based on local tourism development and rural construction, Yuxian county organized three sessions of flower planting and cooking training in the villages of Nihe, Shangnanzhuang and Xiannanzhuang, with 150 people receiving training. 

Among the trainees, 100 farmers got jobs in the rural homestay service sector.