Provinces retain employees to guarantee production during upcoming holiday

Multiple provinces in China, including Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian provinces, have launched measures to retain employees to guarantee production and operation of enterprises during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday.

On Dec 7, Shaoxing city in Zhejiang province has launched 10 measures to keep employees during the holiday, including releasing consumption coupons valued at 800 yuan ($114.65) per person, providing free mobile data traffic, new-year gift packages as well as other incentives, Securities Times reported.

More than 80 percent of surveyed enterprises hope to keep their employees at Shaoxing during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, which falls on Jan 21, 2023, according to a survey by the Bureau of Shaoxing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security.

Some enterprises would keep production during the holiday, while some others are worrying about the periodic labor shortages after the Spring Festival, said the bureau.

Yiwu, China's commodities hub located in East China's Zhejiang province, also launched 10 measures on Dec 12 to keep employees during the holiday, including consumption and transportation subsidies, digital RMB red envelopes, as well as production subsidies to enterprises.

Besides Shaoxing and Yiwu, the Jiashan county and Huangyan district in Taizhou city of Zhejiang province also launched a series of policies such as releasing red envelopes to encourage employees to stay at where they are.

Multiple places in Zhejiang also started recruitment to ensure the continuity and stability of economic development during the holiday, and cope with the possible labor shortages after the Spring Festival, the report said.

The Shaoxing government will provide recruitment incentives to enterprises at no less than 250 yuan per person if they recruit new employees from other places.

Enterprises can also enjoy an up to 70 percent subsidy of charted bus services for newly recruited employees from Jan 22 to Feb 19, with each enterprise enjoying a maximum 100,000 yuan subsidy.

Jinjiang city of Fujian province launched 12 measures on Dec 19 to encourage employees to stay at Jinjiang for the Spring Festival, such as a total of 5 million yuan electric coupons and free mobile data traffic.

On the same day, 10 key enterprises and human resources institutions of Zhongshan city, Guangdong province, set out to the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, which boasts a large output of labor force, to recruit new employees for the coming year.

It is reported that from Dec 19 to the end of March 2023, Guangdong province will launch more than 2,000 matchmaking recruitment events with key labor export provinces to ensure smooth operation of enterprises in Guangdong and assist them to complete orders on time.