Refunding unemployment insurance premiums

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, and the National Health and Health Commission jointly issued the Notice on February 5 to support the stable employment in SMEs. The efforts to refund the unemployment insurance will be increased, and insured companies that are found in temporary difficulties due to the novel coronavirus outbreak and do not lay off employees or a few layoffs can get a refund of unemployment insurance premiums. A total of 11.2 billion yuan will be issued to 470,000 enterprises nationwide, benefiting 24.26 million employees. Prior to the end of March, refunding will be completed. 

Noteworthy measures: 

• Huangpu District of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province: it is proposed that enterprises can get refund with 75% of unemployment insurance premiums, which is 25 percentage points higher than the average level in the country.

• Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province: a special fund of 200 million yuan was established to subsidize enterprises that retain jobs and salaries for the employees in the hard-hit areas.

Reduce recruitment costs

The online recruitment services will be enhanced, with vigorously promoting remote interviews and the "point-to-point" direct matching between enterprises and workforce. It is necessary to regulate the charges of human resources service and definitely crack down on the malicious attempt to force up the labor prices. For hard-hit enterprises with shortage of workforce or willing to take part in the prevention and control work, human resource service agencies are encouraged to provide services with reduced or exempted fee. And reward mechanisms should be established for the recruitment services to the key enterprises.

Noteworthy measures:

• Tianjin: The human resources service agencies which send workforce of more than 30 persons to key enterprises and their labor contrasts are more than one year, will get the rewards of no more than 600 yuan per person according to transporting numbers and stable employment time.

Subsidize the training

The enterprises are encouraged to organize their employees in down time or on rotation to participate in various online vocational trainings during the period of suspension or reduction in production due to the epidemic outbreak. They will get the subsidies for training costs. On February 12, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security decided to open the online training platform developed and operated by its relevant departments for free, to support the development of vocational skills online training. SMEs are also encouraged to join online training to hone their skills amid the novel coronavirus epidemic. Policy interpretation, technical knowhow and management lessons will be offered to SMEs for free during the epidemic via mobile telecommuting platforms

Noteworthy measures:

• Shanghai: Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security has introduced a subsidy policy for training fees, that is, those which organize their employees to participate in various online vocational training during the suspension period can enjoy the subsidies of 95% of the training fees,

• Heilongjiang Province: The insured enterprises will be subsidized with 500 yuan per month for each new employee in training. The maximum period is no more than 6 months.

Solve the difficulties in resuming work

According to local conditions and different enterprises, active and effective measures will be adopted to provide convenience for employees to resume work. For enterprises with a large number of returning employees but cannot provide centralized accommodation such as apartments, the government would take the lead in temporarily deploying social resources such as hotels, and school dormitories as quarantine settlements.

Noteworthy measures:

• Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province: The municipal government coordinated a group of hotels to lease them to related enterprises at preferential prices to resolve transitional accommodation (or segregation) for employees who return to work. The government paid 200 million yuan prepared for more than 50,000 beds. For dual-employee families with children in primary school and kindergarten, the enterprises are encouraged to arrange one parent to take care of the children. For those enterprises, the government subsidizes 500 yuan per person.

• The Yuhang District of Hangzhou: Government arranged 100 million yuan to support the coordinated solution of the return journey of the employees. For enterprises that have been approved for resumption of work, the chartered car will take back employees who are relatively gathering in some places, and the expenses will be subsidized by the government.

• Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province: The government and the enterprise will share the 2: 1 ratio for the expense of the chartered cars to bring back the employees.