Employment is facing great challenges this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak while the central government is undertaking massive efforts to help college graduates find jobs, said Yang Zhenbin, Party secretary of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Yang, also a member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, said on Thursday that the government this year has expanded recruitment campaigns for the army, postgraduates and some grassroots vacancies to help graduates in finding employment.

"Also, the Ministry of Education launched a campaign, with 48 universities nationwide helping colleges in Hubei province find employment for graduates," he said ahead of the opening of CPPCC national committee annual session on Thursday afternoon. Wuhan, badly hit by COVID-19, is in Hubei.

"I'm impressed that many young people who born after 1990s have devoted themselves to control and prevention work against COVID-19 amid the epidemic. For example, one of the students at my university named Ma Jiaojiao gave lectures to villagers and helped them sell products online," he said.

"Now many companies are in their process of resuming operations. I suggest that they can recruit talent to back their talent pool," he said. "I believe that the job market will get better as the epidemic recedes."