Shenzhen will roll out more supportive policies to minimize the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on economic activity and people’s lives, according to a press conference held by the city government’s information office Thursday.
The announcement came as the city reported a sharp decrease in new local COVID infections. For the first time in two weeks, the number of new COVID cases in Shenzhen was a single-digit number, with nine reported Wednesday.
Gao Dongchun, deputy head of the city’s human resources and social security bureau, said at the conference that the bureau will adopt measures in three aspects to effectively stabilize employment and reduce the pressure on businesses.
According to Gao, the city will allow deferred payment of unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance premiums in phases for the city’s catering, tourism and retail industries, as well as deferred payment of endowment insurance, unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance premiums in phases for employers in areas severely affected by the epidemic this year.
Shenzhen will keep its inclusive unemployment insurance refund policy in place for enterprises that do not lay off employees or reduce layoffs.
Large enterprises will receive a 30% refund based on the actual unemployment insurance premiums paid by enterprises and employees in 2021, while micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will receive a refund of up to 90%.
According to Gao, the policy is expected to benefit over 800,000 businesses.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen will continue its phased reduction of unemployment insurance and work-related injury insurance premium rates while adopting a floating premium rate, which is estimated to save local enterprises 1.953 billion yuan (US$306.62 million).
In addition, small manufacturing businesses will also receive financial subsidies from the government for the basic endowment insurance premiums they paid for their employees, according to the bureau.
Gao said that Shenzhen will continue to promote Guangdong Province’s three major skills training programs and focus on launching projects to improve professional skills of new industry workers, digital skills and new business service skills, as well as projects for skilled talents in AI and chip technology.
The city has also worked to promote efficient matching of the labor market’s supply and demand through online recruitment and livestreaming, according to Gao.
As of Wednesday, the city had hosted 239 online recruitment events, with about 240,000 job openings.