Employees of an enterprise in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone lined up orderly to return to work Photo by Gao Yong， Reporter of Changjiang Daily
A total of 25 measures were introduced to stabilize enterprises， jobs and employment in “Measures to Response COVID-19 and Give Full Effort to Ensure Steady Employment” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”) issued by the General Office of Hubei Provincial Government on the 27th focusing on promoting the safe and order work resumption， supporting enterprises to reduce the burden and maintain stable employment， promoting multi-channel employment， promoting the employment of college graduates， promoting employment through entrepreneurship， implementing poverty alleviation through employment， ensuring the most destitute people in need， providing vocational training and employment services， and strengthening organizational guarantee to support the resumption of work and production of enterprises in the province and promote the employment of migrant workers， college graduates and other key groups.
It is reported that 25 measures include: promote the resumption of work and production of enterprises orderly， accurate delivery of migrant workers back to work; reduce enterprise labor costs， strengthen the return of stable posts， strengthen subsidies for stabilizing employment， strengthen the support of enterprise employment; encourage enterprises to enlarge employment， support local and nearby employment， support flexible employment and new forms of employment; expand the scale of job enlargement， expand the scale of recruitment， strengthen employment assistance; strengthen the implementation of policies， optimize the environment for independent entrepreneurship; give priority to supporting the employment of poor laborers， give priority to the resettlement of poor laborers; strengthen employment assistance for people in difficulty， ensure the basic livelihood of the unemployed; carry out vocational skills training on a large scale， strengthen online recruitment， optimize employment services; strengthen organizational leadership， give priority to employment， strengthen fund guarantee， strengthen praise and encouragement， and strengthen supervision and implementation.
Reduce social insurance premium periodically and subsidize enterprises that do not reduce the staff
The Measures stipulate that qualified enterprises that start production and distribute urgently needed materials for epidemic prevention and control shall be given a lump-sum employment subsidy of 2000 yuan / person; institutions that organize migrant workers for cross-regional work by means of “point-to-point， one-stop” private cars and special trains shall be given a lump-sum transportation subsidy; human resource service institutions and labor brokers that organize cross-regional labor export shall be given employment and entrepreneurship subsidies during the epidemic prevention and control period.
The Measures point out that it is necessary to implement the periodical exemption policy for the old-age pension， unemployment and workplace safety insurance payments， the periodical halving policy for the basic medical insurance payment， the policy of deferment of housing provident fund and the policy of periodical deduction of the rates of unemployment insurance and workplace safety insurance， and the implementation period is extended to April 30， 2021.Enterprises undergoing severe difficulties due to the epidemic are eligible for the deferral of social insurance payments for as long as six months. No overdue fine will be charged during this period.The period of social insurance subsidies for those who have difficulty in finding employment recruited by enterprises during the period of reduction or exemption can be extended. 100% of the unemployment insurance premium paid by the enterprise and its employees in the previous year that the rate of layoffs (employment reduction) is not higher than 5.5% will be returned; 70% of the unemployment insurance premium of enterprises that the rate of layoffs (employment reduction) is higher than 5.5% will be returned; 100% of the unemployment insurance premiums paid by enterprises with less than 500 insured employees (inclusive) will be returned.
In addition to the postponement as required， the social insurance subsidies of micro， small and medium-sized enterprises that are affected by the epidemic but do not lay off workers and pay salaries normally can continue to be extended for 6 months after the resumption of work and production.Construction projects owners shall be allowed to defer payment of salary deposits for migrant workers before the end of June 2020， and enterprises with good payment records can be exempted from paying the deposits.
A lump-sum employment subsidy of 1，000 yuan /person will be given to the enterprises that hire persons registered as unemployed for more than six months or people with difficulties in finding jobs， have signed labor contracts for more than one year and paid social insurance premiums in accordance with regulations.
Provincial state-owned enterprises and central enterprises will expand the recruitment scale of graduates in Hubei
The Measures stipulated that provincial state-owned enterprises will expand the recruitment scale of Hubei colleges and universities and graduates from Hubei continuously in 2020 and 2021， the contract shall not be violated at will， and the internship period of the enterprises shall not be used as a prerequisite for recruitment. It is necessary to strive for central enterprises， especially those in Hubei， to increase the proportion of graduates from Hubei universities and colleges or graduates from Hubei. A lump-sum employment subsidy of 1，000 yuan / person will be given to the enterprises that hire fresh graduates， have signed labor contracts for more than one year and paid social insurance premiums in accordance with regulations.
In 2020， the recruitment plan for civil servants will increase by 20%， the recruitment plan for assigned graduates will increase by 50%， and the recruitment plan for public institutions will exceed 30，000. County and township authorities are encouraged to recruit outstanding college graduates actively.In addition to the personnel who need to be hired (employed) as required by regulations， the vacancies of public institutions at all levels in 2020 and 2021 are mainly used for special recruitment of college graduates (including college graduates who have not confirmed employers during the job selection period). Public institutions at all levels can carry out special recruitment for Hubei colleges and universities and graduates from Hubei.
Recruit 20，000 primary level teachers， primary level medical and health technicians， and full-time community (village) staff to enrich primary level service teams; expand the enrollment scale for postgraduate and top-up undergraduates in regular institutions of higher learning in 2020; expand the scale of college students enlisting in the army， improve the incentive policies for enlisting in the army， and increase the enlistment ratio of fresh graduates vigorously; expand the scale of recruitment of primary level service projects.The “Community-level Posts in Education， Agriculture， Health Care and Poverty Relief” plan will recruit 2，000 people， the “China’s Far West Program” will recruit 800 people， and the “Rural Compulsory Education School Teacher Adhoc Posts Plan” will recruit 3，600 people.
Unemployment insurance benefits will be increased to 90% of the minimum wage
The Measures point out that the provincial finance departments will reward financial institutions at 0.5‰ of the loan line of the first inclusive small and micro enterprise loans issued by financial institutions.A financial discount of 50% of the basic interest rate will be given to small and micro enterprises that newly recruited qualified personnel that year account for 20% of existing employees (10% for employees with more than 100 employees) with a loan limit of no more than 3 million.
The unemployment insurance benefits will be increased to 90% of the monthly minimum wage from January 1， 2020.The government will unblock the channels for applying for unemployment insurance benefits， relax the deadline for claims， and realize online claims as soon as possible.
The government will organize registered unemployed persons under the age of 20 to participate in preparatory training， provide training subsidies as required， and provide living allowances to rural trainees and members from poverty-stricken families. The implementation period is from January 1 to December 31， 2020.An enterprise training subsidy of 100 yuan / person / day can be given to the normal production enterprises participating in and serving the epidemic prevention and control that provide training for newly recruited and transferred employees by means of work instead of training. The maximum period shall not exceed 30 days.
Zhang Ge， Reporter of Changjiang Daily
