NANNING－Under the dual pressures of the coronavirus outbreak and poverty alleviation targets, China has been taking measures to promote employment for the poor through online job fairs. "I didn't expect to get a job through my cellphone. I'm satisfied with the post and salary they offered me," said Zhu Fei, a migrant worker from an impoverished mountain village in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Zhu was hired by a food company in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, through an online job fair organized by the local government. He said the local government provided him with free transport to Zhoushan and a monthly subsidy of 200 yuan ($28) for epidemic prevention for three months.

The number of migrant workers in China reached 290 million last year, with 75 million working outside their home provinces, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Many of them are from poverty-stricken families.

The novel coronavirus outbreak forced millions of migrant workers like Zhu to stay at home after this year's Spring Festival holiday in late January, depriving them of salaries to support their families.

With government support, many companies have conducted job interviews online after the cancellation of job fairs to avoid mass gatherings.

Deng Shubing, recruitment director of the Chinese sportswear group Li Ning, said the company plans to recruit 1,300 production-line workers this year. The goal is now 90 percent achieved. "Over 80 percent of applicants were recruited online, either through online job fairs held by the human resources departments in Nanning or through the video-sharing app TikTok," Deng said.

She added the recruitment, in collaboration with local government, enables the company to easily find the workers they need.

As of March 19, the human resources and social security departments in Guangxi had held 850 online job fairs and posted more than 1.5 million jobs for 28,573 enterprises through websites, mobile apps and the social media platform WeChat.

Online information about jobs in the public service sector for those struggling to gain employment is also offered.

An online job fair was held by Nanning's human resources and social security bureau last week, with jobs such as driver and security guard provided for those who have difficulty finding work, said Wei Yudan, a bureau official.

Xinhua