Govt encourages poor to train in domestic services

The central government is encouraging poverty-stricken people to serve in the domestic services sector to consolidate the nation's poverty alleviation work.

Ten ministries and central departments including the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security as well as the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development jointly released a notice on Thursday to help channel more poor workers into the domestic services industry by improving job information platforms and giving preferential policies to the sector's companies.

According to the notice, the commerce ministry will organize companies to post job information on the ministry's website and help connect job seekers and employers.

More training courses on domestic services will be open to those from poverty-stricken areas. Companies are encouraged to join the government-initiated campaign on skills training, which offers free training courses for poor people.

The government is emphasizing more quality training courses, which support industry associations and large-scale companies in domestic services to evaluate the workers by their skills and grant them certificates. These certificates will be uploaded to domestic services platforms and be open for queries from the public.

The notice also said that more financial support will be given to small and medium-sized domestic services companies that didn't reduce employees in previous months. The central government will financially support companies that organize their poor employees to join skills training programs.

The government will also encourage financial agencies to offer unsecured loans to domestic services companies that have good credit and support people near the edge of poverty who are willing to start their own domestic services companies with microcredit.

Gao Feng, spokesman of the commerce ministry, said at an online news conference on Thursday that the government is making efforts to improve domestic services-driven poverty alleviation work to help more poor workers find jobs in the sector.

It is meant to get over the side effects brought by COVID-19 and secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, as well as winning the battle against poverty, he said.

Previously, Wang Xing, a professor from Nankai University who focuses on social work and social policy, said in an interview with China Daily that the domestic services industry requires lower working skills and is much easier for people to enter.