TAIYUAN — Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua has called for strengthened policies to spur jobs and improve employment services in old industrial bases during an inspection tour to North China's Shanxi province.

Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, visited job fairs, industrial parks, enterprises and communities in the cities of Taiyuan and Yangquan from May 21 to 22, where he learned about details in the local job market.

"Ensuring employment in the old industrial bases is of great significance to promote the overall stability of the job market," Hu stressed.

He urged efforts to support the transformation of old industrial bases, promote innovation to facilitate the upgrading of traditional industries and cultivate new business models to expand employment capacity.

Targeted efforts should be made to assist older unemployed population and women, while vocational training should be strengthened to resolve the structural imbalances in employment, according to Hu.

He also called for giving full play to the role of public and market-oriented employment service agencies in creating more jobs.

China aims to create more than 11 million new urban jobs in 2021, according to this year's government work report.