China will continue to prioritize stability in employment, especially for small businesses as the resumption of work and production in the country goes on, according to a video conference on COVID-19 and promoting employment stability attended by Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Hu Chunhua on Friday.

The task of stabilizing employment has become difficult given the sudden hit of COVID-19 that forced the country to delay work and business, halting the normal operations of companies and hindering the employment of new graduates during the job-seeking season.

Employment stands as the top task among the "six stabilities" China has proposed, namely stabilizing employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, investment and expectations. 

Although a large majority of enterprises in China have resumed work and production, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still having difficulties in smoothing the supply chain, some companies said during a video conference with Premier Li Keqiang who inspected the progress of resumption before the conference.

Also, some small businesses still cannot get loans as some local financial institutions are not fully fulfilling their duties, even though the country has recently rolled out a slew of policies aimed at underpinning the normal operation of SMEs amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to some companies.

China will continue to take multiple measures and make full use of tax cuts, fee reductions and financing tools to help companies quicken the resumption of work and production, restart the construction of major projects and stabilize employment, said Premier Li during the video conference.

China in late February introduced financial supports for SMEs, such as raising re-lending and re-discount quotas by 500 billion yuan and lowering the interest rate for small and agricultural businesses by 0.25 percentage points.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced on March 13 a reserve requirement ratio cut for qualified banks which will release 550 billion yuan in an effort to reduce the financing cost for small businesses, farmers and low-income households.

Li said that the country will focus on the employment of key groups, strengthen employment services for college graduates, promote the employment of migrant workers and increase vocational skills training.

The country will pay special attention to people with employment difficulties and those in epidemic-hit areas. It will continue to promote a streamlined administration, give full play to the positive role of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and support the integration of the Internet and digital technology into all industries in a bid to complete the employment task this year, said Li.