A workshop in Taizhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

Business operations resumed at a better-than-expected pace and scale in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, on the heels of the eight-day Spring Festival holiday.

Official data reveals that, as of Feb 20, over 95 percent of the city's above-designated-size enterprises had resumed operations after the holiday, outstripping the pace set during the same period last year.

The exceptional outcomes can be mainly credited to the collaborative efforts of authorities aimed at boosting employment and fostering the expansion of businesses in international markets.

Recognizing the pivotal role of employment in resuming production, Taizhou launched a series of cross-provincial recruitment campaigns around the Spring Festival. This extensive effort involved 22 teams dispatched to 28 locations across six provinces, conducting 61 on-site recruitment activities. In total, 172 companies offered 21,000 positions, with 5,397 individuals expressing their interest in employment.

Within Taizhou, 65 recruitment activities were also organized, utilizing 23 temporary job markets. These efforts led to 3,219 companies offering 82,000 positions, with 14,000 individuals showing immediate interest in employment.

Besides boosting employment, the local governments of Taizhou's county-level areas, including Huangyan, Yuhuan, Wenling, and Xianju, have made concerted efforts to assist companies in the fields of toys, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, plumbing valves, and machinery manufacturing to compete for overseas orders by participating in exhibitions. As of Jan 31, 288 representatives from 119 enterprises took part in 29 international exhibitions, resulting in a cumulative intention transaction volume of $16.37 million.

The city's substantial economic vitality is expected to persist, given its sustained attractiveness for new investments. Feb 18, the first working day after the Spring Festival, witnessed the signing of 22 investment projects in the fields of new energy vehicles, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and precision machine tools, with a total investment of 36.75 billion yuan ($5.11 billion). On the same day, the city also saw the concentrated commencement of 32 projects, with a total investment of 85.4 billion yuan.