BEIJING -- Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua has stressed support for flexible employment through multiple channels to safeguard an overall stable employment environment.

Flexible employment is important to stabilizing the overall employment environment and ensuring people's well-being, Hu said during a recent field survey in Beijing.

Facing the grave employment situation, China should step up policy support, strive to create more jobs, and promote flexible employment especially for the rural poor and urban low-income groups through multiple channels, he said.

China should give scope to human resources, service agencies and internet platform enterprises, and make good use of information technologies such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to improve employment services, he said.

Efforts should also be made to formulate relevant labor and social security policies, and encourage local governments and enterprises to create a favorable environment for flexible employment, he added.