(Yicai Global) April 28 -- To stabilize employment amid the pandemic, the State Council has proposed a series of measures to lower labor costs for small and medium-sized enterprises, including expanding the category of firms permitted to defer social insurance payments.

The State Council yesterday said the policy of deferring the payments of pension, unemployment and work injury insurance premiums will be expanded from specific industries hit by difficulties to all SMEs and micro businesses affected by the pandemic. At the same time, for firms that do not let go of staff, unemployment insurance refunds will be raised to as much as 90 percent from 60 percent.

Earlier yesterday, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced that on the basis of the existing deferred unemployment and work injury insurance in the catering, retail and tourism sectors, the policy will be extended to civil aviation and transportation in the second quarter, and the deferred payments will also cover pension insurance, which can be postponed for three months. Unemployment and work injury insurance can be put off for no more than a year.

The cabinet meeting also proposed that local governments should be encouraged to introduce temporary preferential treatment for electricity use in industries that have been badly affected by the pandemic, and discounts on network and telecom services could reduce the costs of online employment. Companies also will be encouraged to have flexible work practices and the platform economy should be promoted to boost employment.

According to data released by the human resources ministry yesterday, 2.85 million job vacancies were created in cities and towns in the first quarter, reaching 26 percent of the annual target. The average jobless rate was 5.5 percent, barely changed from a year earlier, meeting the annual target set down in this year’s government work report.

Employment was adequate in the first two months of this year, but there was a decline in March because of the economic situation, Zeng Xiangquan, director of the China Institute for Employment Research at Renmin University of China, told Yicai Global. The area most affected by the pandemic was the contact economy, especially accommodation, catering and tourism, he noted.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting