BEIJING, March 28 -- China unveiled a comprehensive policy package on Thursday aimed at expanding employment and supporting business startups as part of the country's efforts to foster sufficient and higher-quality employment.

The plan, issued by the leading group on employment work under the State Council, aims to boost job opportunities in key sectors and industries while promoting employment and entrepreneurship among targeted groups through subsidies and other ways.

"The plan fully integrates economic development with employment promotion," said Chen Yongjia, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

A key part of the plan is to leverage the role of the manufacturing sector in stabilizing and expanding employment.

The country will tap into the employment potential of new quality productive forces in advanced manufacturing, including smart equipment, electronics, biomedicine, and the low-altitude economy, while harnessing emerging technologies to create new jobs with a special artificial intelligence (AI) plus initiative.

The blueprint aims to transform emerging consumption hotspots into new channels for employment, and create more jobs through major projects, according to the plan.

These more proactive and targeted policy measures will work in synergy to boost sufficient and higher-quality employment, said Li Chang'an, a researcher with the Academy of China Open Economy Studies under the University of International Business and Economics.

The plan also stresses the need to promote employment by ensuring key livelihood services, detailing measures to enhance elderly care, healthcare, and nursery and childcare services while creating job opportunities in both urban and rural communities.

It urges government departments, public institutions and state-owned enterprises to maintain stable recruitment levels.

China boasts nearly 190 million market entities, which support hundreds of millions of jobs and serve as a vital stabilizer for employment. To fully leverage entrepreneurship in job creation, the plan pledges more policies to reduce burden on enterprises and encourage them to create more jobs, and provide support for self-employment.

Despite the country's generally stable employment situation, Li acknowledged that "some enterprises still face operational difficulties amid a complex and challenging external environment."

He added that the government's concrete implementation of tax benefits, guaranteed loans, and hiring subsidies will encourage businesses to expand their workforce.

This year, structural employment challenges have intensified as China grapples with mounting pressure to secure stable jobs for key groups, including a record 12.22 million college graduates expected to enter the job market, people lifted out of poverty, and rural migrant workers.

In this regard, carrying out large-scale plans for upgrading vocational skills, as outlined in the plan, is a critical measure to address structural employment challenges, according to Li.

As industrial transformation accelerates, requirements for employees are evolving, Li said. "Only by enhancing workers' skills and technical capabilities can we improve their competitiveness and employability."