Employment remains a cornerstone of livelihoods, acting as both a barometer for economic performance and a stabilizer for residents' lives. In the first half of this year, Wuxi's job market showed strong momentum, delivering a compelling report card for public welfare. From January to June, the city added 83,900 new urban jobs, a year-on-year increase of 17.96%. A total of 5,539 college graduates participated in job见习 programs, reaching 120.4% of the annual target, while 10,155 urban and rural job seekers with difficulties found employment, up 14.69% year-on-year. Behind these three rising figures lie expanded job supply from industrial growth, collaborative platforms built by government and enterprises, and a robust support network for targeted assistance, painting a picture of industry upgrading toward innovation and employment improving in quality.

In clean-room workshops, equipment runs smoothly, new production lines are being commissioned, and young technical staff follow mentors to learn chip testing procedures. At Wuxi Weice Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., the third-phase project is ramping up to mass production, with industrial expansion creating numerous high-quality positions, drawing many young professionals to start their careers. "The sustained boom in AI, intelligent driving, and 5G industries has driven rapid growth in demand for automotive-grade and high-performance chip testing. Coupled with our push into advanced testing technologies, talent recruitment is urgent," said Wu Jiyu, HR director at Weice Semiconductor. The third-phase project in Wuxi is accelerating, with new production lines being set up and high-end testing equipment arriving. The IC testing sector is both technology- and labor-intensive, so each new line generates dozens of rigid demands for technical operations, equipment maintenance, and quality control positions. In the first half of the year, the company hired 694 new employees, with a net increase of over 400 people. About 60% of these were fresh graduates, primarily in product testing, equipment engineering, and process engineering roles. Yang Jun, a graduate from Anhui University's IC design and integration systems program, joined Weice as a product testing engineer through campus recruitment. Under his mentor's guidance, he transitioned from theoretical knowledge to independently conducting basic chip tests in just three months. Within six months, he was involved in new product introduction verification. "Third-party testing is a vital link in the industry chain. Wuxi's strong IC industry cluster, livable environment, and affordable cost of living allow graduates from elsewhere to settle here comfortably," Yang said optimistically. The continued expansion of emerging pillar industries like IC is creating high-quality technical positions, attracting job seekers from across the country to Wuxi.

Industrial growth offers broad career pathways, while job见习 programs build a bridge from campus to the workplace for graduates. As a provincial-level demonstration base for employment见习, Wuxi Metro Operation Co., Ltd. arranged 506 young people for job见习 this year, covering eight roles including electric train driving, track maintenance, vehicle servicing, and operations management, with a retention rate exceeding 95%. Pan Bingjie, a graduate from Hubei Railway Transportation Vocational College majoring in urban rail transit operations management, chose Wuxi without hesitation after seeing the job见习 positions. "Wuxi's metro network is expanding, and new lines are being built rapidly, which means more room for growth. Add the clean, livable environment and moderate pace of life, and it's my ideal city." Alternating theory classes with on-the-job practice and one-on-one mentorship allowed her and her peers to quickly adapt to metro operations. "Through the见习, I confirmed that I love the pace of frontline operations and enjoy interacting with passengers. Now, my plan is clear: stay in operations, keep learning, and aim for a comprehensive management role," Pan said. "New metro lines require a lot of staff, and over 80% of our见习 participants come from outside Wuxi. This period gives them time to adapt and lets us see their potential," said Guo Tongyan, deputy HR director at Wuxi Metro Operation. As smart urban rail construction progresses, five metro lines are built simultaneously, and the rail transit industry diversifies, the metro group is exploring talent needs in emerging areas like low-altitude economy support, cloud platform operations, and intelligent maintenance. They've already deployed positions like system operators for new-quality roles, building talent reserves for a comprehensive transformation from traditional operations to high-quality development.

On one side, Wuxi meets corporate labor needs; on the other, it addresses residents' employment expectations. This year, the city has continuously optimized its employment service system, organizing companies to conduct cross-regional labor cooperation in Guizhou's Qianxinan and Qiannan prefectures, as well as Hanzhong in Shaanxi. It hosted the "Happy Employment in Wuxi" series of school-enterprise matching events, building platforms like the "Famous City, Famous School, Famous Enterprise" cooperation conference and job internship fairs. It also held large-scale dual-selection events for graduates, "talent night market" specialized recruitment fairs, and high-end talent recruitment sessions. By leveraging job见习 and targeted assistance policies for disadvantaged groups, Wuxi balances youth employment development with basic safeguards for key populations, achieving a win-win-win for industrial growth, corporate labor needs, and resident employment. Officials from the Wuxi Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau's Labor Employment Management Center stated that future efforts will focus on key group employment services, prioritizing youth employment, establishing regular school-enterprise cooperation platforms, organizing city-based key enterprises to conduct special recruitment at vocational colleges outside the city, deepening cross-regional labor collaboration, precisely matching human resource supply with corporate labor demand, effectively stabilizing the fundamentals of livelihoods, and promoting fuller and higher-quality employment.