Maternity matrons brush up on their professional skills at Yangquan Muzi Guanjia Domestic Services Co in Yangquan city, July 24. The private company has so far trained around 400 maternity matrons, helping alleviate employment difficulties in the city. [Photo/Yangquan Daily]

Yangquan city in North China's Shanxi province created 11,597 urban jobs in the first half of the year, completing 55.22 percent of its annual target for new employment, according to local officials.

Faced with the continuing novel coronavirus pandemic, Yangquan introduced a number of policies and measures to stabilize and promote local employment as well as entrepreneurship, especially for those with difficulties in getting work.

To help spur employment for college and university graduates, the city staged online job fairs with 560 graduates signing initial employment agreements with companies.

In addition, experts and entrepreneurs with rich experience in employment, entrepreneurship and work practice have been invited to give graduates systematic employment and entrepreneurship training. 

Graduates in need of a position have been granted a one-time job hunting and entrepreneurship subsidy of 1,000 yuan ($142.66).

Moreover, the city has launched a mass vocational skills improvement program, conducting online training for 17 vocations and opening 23 offline vocational skills training courses.

Meantime, Yangquan has committed to building entrepreneurial services platforms.

To date, 12 entrepreneurial incubators and five entrepreneurial demonstration parks have been established, which have attracted 1,208 startups and employed 8,140 people.