Xinjiang to lift destitute people out of poverty through employment

URUMQI - Northwest China's Xinjiang autonomous region Wednesday unveiled a poverty-relief plan to employ 100,000 destitute people by 2020.

As part of China's national objective of eliminating absolute poverty by 2020 to create a "moderately prosperous society," Xinjiang's regional government is determined to help 22 impoverish counties shake off poverty.

The regional human resources and social security department said that it would organize skill training programs to help 40,000 laborers from impoverished counties in Kashgar, Hotan, Kizilsu and Aksu prefectures get jobs in 2018.

By 2020, that number is expected to reach 100,000. They may get jobs in other Chinese cities or get employed in townships, industrial parks and companies in Xinjiang.

In 2017, government-organized occupational education programs covered 1.26 million people in Kashgar and Hotan, where 47,000 destitute people found jobs in the same period.

Most of the poverty-stricken counties are located in southern Xinjiang, where a poor living environment, insufficient infrastructure and a lack of public services have resulted in considerable poverty.