BEIJING - China has promoted the implementation of work-relief programs by local governments in key projects as well as agricultural and rural infrastructure projects to boost employment, the country's top economic planning body said Monday.

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In the first three quarters of 2024, these programs created a total of 2.45 million jobs for low-income workers, a year-on-year increase of 30.2 percent, and distributed 31 billion yuan (about $4.35 billion) in wages, up 22.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

These work-relief programs are aimed at people in need of employment, especially rural residents who have been lifted out of poverty, vulnerable individuals prone to returning to poverty, and migrant workers who have gone back to their hometowns.

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The commission will continue to give full play to the role of these programs in creating jobs for low-income workers and increasing their incomes, it said.