China is to build up to 5,000 "bases" this year to provide internships for young people.

The Chinese Communist Youth League will coordinate the recruiting of qualified companies and individuals, it said on Monday.

Youth leagues at municipal or provincial levels will select suitable companies to form the bases of businesses or sets of businesses able to provide positions for at least 10 interns each year with basic living allowances.

Qualified candidates will be new university or vocational school graduates seeking work, those who have failed to find a job since graduation, young laid-off workers, and young migrant workers.

The first group of nearly 2,000 bases has been selected, offering about 60,000 positions in the finance, publishing, telecommunication, manufacturing and transport industries.

(Shanghai Daily February 3, 2009)