China should work to bring social security benefits to as many flexible employment workers as possible, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during an inspection tour to east China's Zhejiang Province on Monday.

Guaranteeing such security will help extend the potential of the job market, and make cities more competitive and the society more vigorous, Li stressed in Ningbo, a major city in the province.

The Chinese premier said Ningbo's policy to support those working under the flexible employment mechanism can be learned by others after local officials briefed him on the measures they have rolled out, including subsidies and training. 

Flexible employment is an important means for one to increase their income, said Li. China now has more than 200 million people working under such category, and they have played an important role in boosting the economic and social development, the services sector in particular, Li added.  

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During a visit to a local job and talent center, the Chinese premier asked a job seeker for online food delivery services whether he will have work-related injury insurance. Some university graduates told him flexible employment is an alternative for them and they hope to start their own businesses in the future.  

Earlier in the day, Li visited the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which has been the world's busiest cargo handling port for 12 consecutive years and is China's largest transshipment base for iron ores and crude oil.

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Zhejiang is known worldwide for its small commodities, but their production would not be possible without materials from major commodities, said Li, noting prices of some major commodities have kept rising since the start of the year.  

Zhejiang will not only serve as a distribution center of small commodities, but also build itself into a strategic transit hub of major commodities, Li stressed.  

To achieve modernization, China must open itself wider to the outside world and make full use of both the domestic and the international markets and resources to trade freely and fairly with others in the world, said Li. 

China has been nurturing a "dual circulation" development paradigm, which encourages the domestic and overseas markets to reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay.