Workshops lift thousands out of poverty in East China

Female workers at a hair product factory in Juancheng, East China's Shandong province. [Photo/sdchina.com]

A local county government in East China's Shandong province has established "poverty alleviation workshops" to help people get jobs and factories find workers.

Juancheng, located in southwest Shandong province, used to be a national-level poverty-stricken county with 90,553 living in poverty by the end of 2015.

To solve the problem, the local government made the best use of resources to alleviate poverty by focusing on employment training and shortage of workforce.

Juancheng is known for its hair products and furniture-making industry, but the factories often found it hard to get skilled workers.

On the other hand, many of the poor were short of proper training and guidance. Therefore, the government began encouraging local firms to build small-sized workshops and employment training centers at the villages.　　

Zhang Jinshu, the general manager of a local factory, said the creative way led to a win-win situation as factories started finding skilled workers and people began getting jobs.

Niu Minglan, a 50-year-old villager in Juancheng, said she cannot go to big cities to work as she has to take care of her parents and grandchildren.

But the "poverty alleviation and employment training workshops" offered her an opportunity to make money at home, she said. Niu now earns 1,000 yuan ($145) a month.

There are now nearly 500 "poverty alleviation and employment training workshops" in Juancheng's each and every village, creating jobs for more than 20,000.

The local government said it would encourage more "poverty alleviation" industries and has already built four industrial parks that focus on manufacturing hair products. There are already 56 companies from home and abroad established in the parks, leading to employment of more than 60,000 people.

Shandong province has promised to pull about 2.42 million people out of poverty by 2018. Last year, 1.2 million people in the province were lifted out of poverty.

China aims to eradicate rural poverty by 2020, lifting its remaining 55 million rural poor people out of poverty. The country's poverty line is 2,300 yuan in annual income.

In order to win the war against poverty, local governments have adopted means such as e-commerce, financing, industry, relocation and improvement of infrastructure.