by Li Zhuoxi

Unemployment insurance premium refunding refers to returning a certain proportion of unemployment insurance premiums paid the previous year to enterprises that avoid laying off employees. The State Council issued guidelines on measures to stabilize employment in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic that called for increasing unemployment insurance premium refunds in both amount and coverage. For micro， small and medium-sized enterprises that avoid laying off employees， a maximum rate of 100 percent of unemployment insurance premiums paid the previous year would be refunded. In Hubei Province， all enterprises qualify for the exemption.

A total of 42.3 billion yuan （US$5.9 billion） in unemployment insurance premium refunds has been distributed to 3.2 million enterprises across China with 85.13 million employees， according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Three times as many companies received refunds this year compared to last year， with a growing number of micro， small and medium-sized enterprises among them.