Deliveryman Xu Guobin who has continued to work during the Spring Festival holidays for straight 12 days prepares to delivering packages to the people who needed them in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Feb. 3, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)¦

 

China's e-commerce companies JD.com and Alibaba said on Wednesday that they would offer a total of 65,000 new jobs during the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic. Online shopping has surged as most people are staying home to avoid infection.

JD Logistics, a business group under JD.com, will offer over 20,000 frontline positions, recruiting warehouse workers, collection personnel, couriers and drivers. The number will include full and part time work.

In addition, JD-backed on-demand delivery platform Dada Group will offer 15,000 positions, including 10,000 courier positions across the country and over 5,000 positions for retail partners of JD Daojia, a local on-demand retail platform under the Dada Group.

Amid the virus epidemic, the online economy has been booming in China. That along with the delayed return of many workers to cities has resulted in a serious labor shortage for e-commerce players.

Data from JD showed that from January 24 to February, sales of fresh products surged by 215 percent year-on-year to 15,000 tons.

Alibaba's online grocery store FreshHema also announced on Wednesday that it will offer 30,000 new positions in 2020, including those in procurement, marketing and delivery.

FreshHema said in a statement that its delivery force has recovered to 80 percent of its normal level, but that surging orders mean its number of existing couriers is far from sufficient. Thus, demand for couriers is urgent.

Both companies began hiring temporary workers from February 3. FreshHema had by Monday "rented" 1,800 employees from companies in Beijing, Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong Province and other cities in its "employee sharing" plan.

JD Logistics has already hired 700 employees from more than 10 companies that partner with JD.

In addition to JD and Alibaba, Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo Group said on Saturday that it will provide temporary positions in five cities including the virus epicenter Wuhan to help small and medium-sized enterprises survive the difficult period.

China is under pressure to maintain employment stability amid the epidemic.

There will be a total of 8.74 million new college graduates in 2020, up 400,000 from last year, data from the Ministry of Education showed.

China created 11.93 million new jobs in the first 10 months of 2019, achieving its 11 million goal for 2019 in advance.

Global Times