URUMQI, June 7 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 private companies have employed over 4,600 villagers in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region since 2017, according to a regional commerce group.
The villagers mainly come from Hotan, Aksu, Kashgar, and Kizilsu, four poverty-stricken prefectures in southern Xinjiang. Most of them secured jobs in the service and manufacturing sectors, according to the Xinjiang Federation of Industry and Commerce.
The move was part of efforts by China's private companies to contribute to a nationwide poverty alleviation campaign as the country aims to eradicate absolute poverty by 2020.
Haid Group, one of the employers, has invested 1.2 billion yuan (190 million U.S. dollars) in establishing an animal husbandry firm in Hotan which will provide more job opportunities for local residents.
"The new company has benefited 5,700 local people. More than 80 percent of them were previously registered as impoverished," said Zheng Chamei, chairman of Haid Group.
Xinjiang has helped 41,000 impoverished people in the most poverty-stricken southern part of the region find employment in the first quarter this year, according to the regional government.
A single purchase
