Federation of trade unions helps boost employment in COVID-19's wake

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has taken steps to help increase employment nationwide in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic creating difficulties in the job market, according to a federation leader.

The federation has released more than 60,000 pieces of recruitment information since late June, offering more than 1.1 million jobs, Cai Zhenhua, federation vice-chairman, said at a press conference held in Beijing on Thursday.

The federation also organized vocational training sessions, inviting a total of 112 workers and craftsmen who made outstanding achievements in their own fields to give lessons to workers nationwide via live streaming. More than 72 million workers had participated in the training as of Aug 18, he said.

To help workers get through difficult times this year, the federation allocated 554 million yuan ($80 million), benefiting 203,800 workers who encountered specific difficulties in life and 272,400 workers with very low family income in the first half of the year.

In addition, the federation invested 6.18 billion yuan to help and console workers whose incomes were severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, especially those whose family members died from the disease, Cai noted.

He added that against the backdrop that COVID-19 took a toll on employment, some flexible posts in new industries, with new business formats and new business modes, including couriers and truck drivers, have helped quite a number of people land jobs.

"We hope to attract more people on these posts to join in our federation, so that we can provide better services to them and meanwhile overcome difficulties together with them," Cai said.

Incomplete statistics showed that more than 6.5 million truck drivers and couriers have become federation members since 2018.