A government-sponsored training project named "Sunshine Program" has helped 7.6 million Chinese rural laborers find jobs in non-farm sectors since 2004, said Zhang Fengtong, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday.

By now, 8.8 million rural laborers have taken training courses on skills in manufacturing, construction and service sectors, with more than 85 percent of them securing new jobs, said Zhang.

The project was launched in 2004 to offer professional training to rural laborers and teach them how to lead urban life and protect their legal rights.

The Chinese government has invested 1.25 billion yuan (US$160.3 million) in the program, under which each trainee got a subsidy of 100 yuan for training expenses in 2004. The subsidy rose to 171 yuan per person in 2006.

Zhang said the average salary of trained migrant rural laborers is 200 yuan more than that of the untrained and 400 yuan more than that of farmers.

Thanks to the project, migrant laborers in eight provinces including Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hunan and Sichuan saw their total incomes rise 19.8 percent a year.

The project also helped boost the development of regional economy, said Zhang, adding that a lot of trained laborers returned home and started their own business with the knowledge they acquired.

In Chongqing, 4,798 migrant workers left urban areas and invested a total 4.69 billion yuan in their hometowns in 2005, creating 71,000 job opportunities and production values of 7.36 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2007)