Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday stressed more efforts in supporting key groups such as college graduates and returning migrant workers to start their own businesses and find jobs so as to address the negative economic impact from the pandemic. 

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during the State Council's executive meeting.

During the meeting, the government said it will increase funding and land use support for entities of entrepreneurship and innovation.

One-off subsidies may be given to those starting their own businesses for the first time and operate normally for more than one year.

By the middle of July, 2.24 trillion yuan of an additional 3.75 trillion yuan of special bonds had been issued and 1.9 trillion yuan of the bonds had been spent, and all of them were used for major projects to bolster areas of weakness.

The measures have played a positive role in responding to the impact of the pandemic, expanding effective investment and stabilizing the basic economic fundamentals, attendees at the meeting said.

The meeting also adopted the draft of the regulation on the implementation of the Budget Law of the People's Republic of China.

China's State Council on Tuesday released a regulation on ensuring timely payments to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will go into effect on September 1.

Noting that SMEs provide significant support for expanding employment and improving people's livelihoods, the State Council introduced the regulation to ensure that government departments, public institutions, and large enterprises pay SMEs on time to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and improve the business environment.

Meanwhile, a special recruitment plan targeting migrant workers in poor counties was formulated by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council. 

According to China's Ministry of Education, the population of college graduates this year will be as high as 8.74 million, up 40 percent year-on-year.