A high-level talent innovation and entrepreneurship competition held in Moganshan High-tech District in Huzhou's Deqing county. [Photo/hz66.com]

Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province has unveiled a string of measures to help college students get employed as the number of job vacancies in the city had shrank by more than 30 percent due to the COVID-19 epidemic in the first half of this year.

Among these measures are innovation and venture contests that help increase employment opportunities.

To date, more than 1,500 startups have been set up in Huzhou by the winners of the contests. Most of these companies are involved in the intelligent equipment, biomedicine and new energy vehicle sectors.

Nearly 50 startup projects have been established in the Moganshan High-tech District in Huzhou's Deqing county thanks to a talent innovation and entrepreneurship competition that has been held six years in a row. These startups have in turn created over 1,000 jobs for college students.

In addition, the local government has been playing an active role in aligning the demands of corporations and universities.

To date, 4,054 of the city's 4,687 unemployed college graduates have successfully found jobs.

Xu Xiaohui, director of the Huzhou municipal bureau of human resources and social security, said that the city has set the goal of holding more than 600 online and offline recruitment activities throughout the year, and helping 100,000 college students find jobs or start businesses in Huzhou.