BEIJING, May 9 -- China has invested 11.5 billion yuan (about 1.62 billion U.S. dollars) this year to support programs that provide employment to people in need as a form of relief, the National Development and Reform Commission said Thursday.

The investment, which was jointly issued with the Ministry of Finance, has been used to support more than 2,700 work-relief programs and generated 250,000 jobs for rural residents.

The work-relief programs are aimed at people in need of employment, especially rural residents who have been lifted out of poverty, vulnerable individuals prone to return to poverty, and migrant workers returning to their hometowns. The programs are designed to help them find work at their locales.

The commission urged local governments to speed up the initiation process of the work-relief programs in order to boost employment and increase incomes for local people.