Xinjiang adds over 2.3 mln new urban jobs in 2016-2020

URUMQI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region added more than 2.34 million new urban jobs during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), keeping the registered urban unemployment rate below 4 percent, local authorities said.

Xinjiang has rolled out a variety of measures such as improving employment and entrepreneurship policies and boosting vocational training to guarantee stable employment to college graduates, surplus rural labor force and people with difficulties in seeking jobs, according to the regional department of human resources and social security.

Xinjiang has made employment of college graduates a priority. By encouraging them to work in enterprises, get involved in grassroots and less developed areas and start their own business, Xinjiang has maintained the employment rate of college graduates over 88 percent.

The autonomous region has made every effort to develop vocational education, and organized a variety of employment training programs.

From 2016 to 2020, around 5.95 million people in Xinjiang participated in vocational skill training programs, allowing over 387,000 to start business and more than 800,000 to find jobs.