Human resources and social security authorities in Guangdong province, a major destination for migrant workers, will coordinate efforts to manage the peak period of job transitions for workers before and after the Spring Festival holiday.

As part of the efforts, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security plans to organize 30 special trains and over 300 chartered buses for workers returning home for Spring Festival or back to work after the holiday, usually a critical period for enterprises to resume operations.

The authorities will also encourage companies, chambers of commerce and associations to organize special train services and charter activities, facilitating the convenient return of migrant workers and providing robust human resources support for high-quality development across the province.

At 6:32 am Sunday, a high-speed train carrying around 700 migrant workers from Jingmen, Hubei province, departed from Guangzhou South Station, marking the beginning of the government-organized special train services for such workers.

During the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which begins on Tuesday, as many as 6.67 million passengers will be served across three major railway stations in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, representing a 9.6 percent year-on-year increase, according to the China Railway (Guangzhou) Group.

Organizing special trains and chartered buses for migrant workers is seen as part of efforts to stabilize the job market in Guangdong, an economic powerhouse with a large population of migrant workers.

Guangdong has over 43 million migrant workers, with more than 24 million from other provinces and regions, according to data from the provincial human resources and social security authorities.

The province has established 1,050 employment service stations and has made concerted efforts online and offline to bring public employment services down to the grassroots level, helping effectively promote job stability.

"The attraction of working in Guangdong for migrant workers is precisely due to the abundance of opportunities in the region," said Wu Hua, a migrant worker from Hubei province.

After graduating from a vocational school in Jingmen in 1998, Wu signed up with a Guangdong-based company and became one of the first students from the school to find employment in the province.

After years of dedicated work in mechanical processing and automation, he has become an experienced engineer, earning the title of a mid-level worker. In 2018, he decided to start a business with friends.

"The automation-related supply chain and industrial resources in Guangdong are relatively comprehensive, which has been very helpful for our entrepreneurial endeavors," Wu said.

"The rapid development of the industry has broadened our horizons and has driven the continuous improvement of our products and services."

In Wu's hometown of Jingmen, local human resources and social security authorities have also organized nearly 200 companies to participate in a job fair to recruit migrant workers returning home before Spring Festival.

At the event held on Sunday, companies offered over 10,000 jobs in fields such as new energy, new materials and the intelligent manufacturing of automotive equipment.

Before and after the Spring Festival holiday, Hubei will organize over 3,000 online and offline recruitment events, with more than 28,000 companies offering nearly 900,000 positions, according to the provincial human resources and social security authorities.

Contact the writers at [email protected]