Residents clear a river in Toujia village in Haimen district, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Haimen district in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, has in recent years been exploring ways to bolster its village collective economy in an effort to drive rural vitalization and common prosperity.

The district has rolled out an innovative measure to develop labor economy and one of the outstanding pioneers is Toujia village. It established a labor service company and organized its surplus labor force to take on the task of keeping a 165-kilometer river course clean.

Jiang Mei, Party secretary of the village, said that the move provided jobs to more than 50 residents and generated a collective income of more than 400,000 yuan ($54,919.26) in 2022.

Huang Ruixiang, a resident in the village, said that the job of clearing the river earns him more than 40,000 yuan a year, and has also improved the living environment significantly.

The other excellent example is Tianxi village that set up a house keeping company in 2020 and provides training courses to residents.

The company has employed 63 workers to take on road cleaning work and generates a net income of 1.2 million yuan a year, according to Xu Hongsheng, Party secretary of the village.