With China implementing more supportive policies to increase jobs and support businesses, especially medium and small ones, Swan Daojia, a large-scale homemaking service provider, announced it will recruit up to a million people into the industry via digital solutions and standardized services in the coming years, according to its top executive.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many corporate employees to work at home, boosting the growth of delivery and takeaway services, the homemaking service industry is experiencing rapid development concurrent with China's digital industry, said Chen Xiaohua, CEO of the Beijing-headquartered company. Many changes in business formats caused by the outbreak can be expected, he added.

As demand for homemaking services among Chinese families has rebounded after the sector experienced a major hit due to the pandemic last year, he said the online-to-offline or O2O homemaking service is able provide blue-collar workers with information and guarantees, and bring job training opportunities to people in rural areas.

"The O2O business model has made it convenient for both consumers and companies. Consumers can get comprehensive information online and quickly select the homemaking services they like. For homemaking service providers, they can take accurate marketing strategies and maintain customers by providing them high-quality customized services," he said.

Apart from providing general industrial knowledge and employment guides to people in need, the company introduced online interview and training courses to significantly reduce workers' time and financial costs in these procedures.

The company will not only provide assistance to children of these workers in term of education and healthcare to further mitigate pressures at home in the next stage, but also continue to expand its internet plus homemaking service network in more homemaking companies across China.

"Through such efforts, we hope to help more blue-collar workers from rural areas achieve full employment in the field of domestic affairs, obtain considerable income and social recognition, and also help increase the income level of rural residents and the overall revitalization and development of rural areas," he added.

In addition, following the government's relaxation of family planning laws allowing married urban couples to have second children in 2016, a growing number of newborns have been second children, and young Chinese families have shown increasingly higher demand for nannies and babysitters, said Guo Xin, a marketing professor at Beijing Technology and Business University.

"As China has achieved early recovery from the outbreak, people are showing more confidence in hiring domestic helpers and have placed an increasing number of business orders with housekeeping firms. There could be a short-term shortage of domestic helpers, which fuels higher recruiting demand," she added.