Job seekers view employment information during a job fair in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

China's government subsidies to stabilize employment in the aftermath of coronavirus assault may surge to a historical high of 500-600 billion yuan ($70.47-84.57 billion) in 2020, experts said on Sunday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has battered the country's labor-intensive industries during a lockdown of two months.

As the central government lists stabilizing employment as one of its priorities this year, local governments are expected to provide subsidy incentives to coronavirus-hit enterprises to retain jobs, said Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics.

"If all provinces and cities across the country adopt the method, the total amount of employment subsidies is expected to reach a record high since it was rolled out about 10 years ago," Cong told the Global Times.

Currently, a good number of provinces and cities have rolled out subsidies to boost employment.

East China's Anhui Province announced it would subsidize 3,000 yuan per person to small and micro firms that sign employment contracts with college graduates for six months, according to a statement on a local government website on Saturday.

Central China's Hubei Province will subsidize 10,000 yuan to recovered coronavirus patients who live in poverty, while offer an employment subsidy of 2,000 yuan per person to businesses that create jobs for poverty-stricken people, according to an article on a local government's website on Sunday.

As the COVID-19 has put pressure on China's job market, the State Council stressed in a recent document to highlight jobs retention of all business, while encouraging small, medium and micro firms to create jobs by reducing their tax and fees burden and offering government subsidies, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

China's unemployment rate in urban areas reached a two-year high of 6.2 percent in February as many businesses remained closed during the epidemic.

On Friday, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security launched a large-scale online recruiting event that will last through the end of June, providing 10 million jobs - the largest and most extensive event of its kind in recent years.