Hangzhou arranges a chartered flight for workers from Guangzhou in South China. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_2e71fa6fa9b2]

The 2023 China Annual Best Employer Awards Ceremony took place in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan province on Dec 15. Hangzhou stood out with achievements in stabilizing and promoting employment, securing the title of "China's Annual Best Employment Promotion City" for the fourth consecutive year.

Recognizing that employment is crucial for people's livelihoods, Hangzhou has prioritized the concept of employment first in all its employment policies throughout the year.

In 2023, Hangzhou upgraded its entrepreneurship support policies. It expanded the scope of personal loans for entrepreneurship guarantee loans, lowered the upper limit of interest rates for such loans, and shortened the reimbursement period for entrepreneurship site rent subsidies.

Hangzhou also introduced and implemented policies such as one-time retention subsidies for enterprises and charter return subsidies for enterprises, disbursing a one-time retention subsidy of 22.86 million yuan ($3.19 million) and a charter return subsidy of 402,000 yuan. The city organized 854 job fairs, with 60,000 positions provided by 24,600 enterprises.

Additionally, Hangzhou provided assistance to key groups to ensure their smooth employment. By the end of November, the city had disbursed 1.18 billion yuan in various employment and entrepreneurship subsidies, with the unemployment insurance fund expenditure reaching 2.76 billion yuan. Currently, 6,042 positions have been reserved. The city witnessed the addition of 310,100 urban jobs, with 75,500 registered urban unemployed individuals successfully reemployed, securing its leading position in the province.

Hangzhou has established a unified intelligent employment service platform, encompassing transaction, service, and governance, with 12 intelligent processing service items already online, processing nearly 50,000 cases.

A job fair for college graduates. [Photo/WeChat account: gh_2e71fa6fa9b2]