China's State Council extends unemployment insurance refunds, hiring subsidies, and skills-upgrading payments for a further year, from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026, while tightening fraud checks on multi-province certificate claims.
China has renewed its package of unemployment insurance incentives for another year, running from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026. The State Council-approved notice, issued on 18 June 2026 to provincial governments and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, keeps three existing subsidy tracks running while tightening fraud controls.
Premium refunds and hiring subsidies
Employers that have paid unemployment insurance in full for at least 12 months and kept layoffs at or below the national urban surveyed unemployment rate target from the prior year remain eligible for premium refunds. The cap for large enterprises stays at 30% of premiums paid the previous year; small and micro enterprises can claim up to 60%.
For companies with 30 or fewer staff, the layoff threshold is set at 20% of insured employees. Law firms, accounting firms, social organisations, and self-employed individuals enrolled as units qualify on the same terms. Refunded money can go toward living allowances, social insurance contributions, or retraining.
Separately, a one-time hiring subsidy of up to RMB 1,500 per person continues for employers who take on recent college graduates (within two years of graduation) or registered unemployed youth aged 16 to 24, provided they sign labour contracts and pay unemployment, work injury, and pension insurance for at least three months.
Skills subsidies get more flexible
Workers who have held unemployment insurance for 12 months or longer, or who are already drawing benefits, can claim skills upgrading payments tied to certification level: RMB 1,000 for primary, RMB 1,500 for intermediate, and RMB 2,000 for advanced. Normally capped at one claim per person per year, provinces now have room to raise that to three annual claims for workers holding multiple certificates on the local scarce-occupation list. Provincial labour departments must report their certificate-matching criteria to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Tighter checks on fraud
The notice pushes local governments toward a “no-application-required” disbursement model, with funds flowing automatically once eligibility is confirmed through data matching. Micro and small businesses without a corporate bank account can now receive payments through the account they already use for social insurance payments at their local tax office.
On oversight, authorities are told to watch for a specific fraud pattern: large volumes of skills-subsidy claims backed by certificates from a single out-of-province evaluation body. Provinces running the job-retention or skills subsidy programs must hold at least a full year’s worth of unemployment insurance fund reserves; where reserves fall short, the hiring subsidy draws instead from employment assistance funds.
