China to optimize community-level posts to support recruitment of college graduates

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- China has issued a circular on optimizing community-level posts in both urban and rural areas to recruit college graduates, aiming to provide a solid talent pool to support the modernization of grassroots governance and capacity.

The circular, released Tuesday on the social media account of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, was jointly issued by the ministry, the Society Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

It outlines policy measures to broaden grassroots employment channels for college graduates, create new positions, and strengthen support and guarantees.

The circular calls for expanded hiring of college graduates majoring in sociology, social work, psychology, and law, with a focus on emergency response, services for the elderly and children, care and assistance for special groups, and psychological counseling.

In principle, all new positions are open to college graduates, and local authorities are encouraged to set aside a significant number of posts for targeted recruitment of graduates, it said.

The circular supports businesses and specialized social organizations in urban and rural community services to recruit more college graduates through government procurement of services and project cooperation. It also calls for developing internship posts in villages and communities to provide more hands-on opportunities for graduates.

It advocates improving the mechanism for collecting, consolidating, and publishing grassroots job vacancies in both urban and rural areas, supporting eligible individuals in taking the professional social worker qualification assessment, and granting relevant occupational allowances in accordance with regulations.

China's surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.2 percent in the first seven months, within the annual target of keeping it at around 5.5 percent in 2026.

To further boost employment, China released a five-year plan on human resources and social security development in July. Among other targets, the plan aims to help 25 million unemployed urban workers find new jobs and provide employment assistance to 6.5 million people facing difficulties in finding work. Enditem