"I do not have professional skills, which makes it hard for me to find an ideal job," Zhu said. "Without sufficient skills, the only job available for me is as a sanitary worker. I am thinking about opening a small business after the classes and am much more confident in job hunting."

Sun Huafeng, deputy principal of Weifang Happy Service Job Training School, which runs the training, said: "We are here to provide useful job skills to residents. Our training programs are going well with support from the zone."

He added that the school teamed up with the local Yuandu community in 2008 to provide job training programs for residents.

The community provides classrooms and the school provides the teachers. The school provides courses such as baking and childcare.

In the past few years, the Weifang Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has taken a series of measures to train more and more redundant workers to help them regain employment. The zone has also paid close attention to creating job opportunities, launching favorable policies and improving its training and services.

In 2017, the zone provided 2.06 million yuan ($323,900) in subsidies to companies offering positions to people who have experienced difficulties in finding employment.

Zhuang Jian contributed to this story.