A total of 22,000 jobless college graduates in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, mostly ethnic Uygurs, are slated to receive at least one year of job training free of charge in universities and companies in China's developed regions in the next two years.

As a result of a massive employment program introduced by the autonomous region's government, posts in government departments and institutions, as well as in State-owned enterprises, will be offered to students who finish the training and return home. The program's goal, though, isn't necessarily to bring people back to Xinjiang; the students will also be encouraged to take jobs elsewhere.

The autonomous region's government estimates the program will cost 850 million yuan ($130 million).

Liu Xianglin, an official in charge of the program, said the participants are among some 60,000 educated young people - 80 percent of them Uygurs - who haven't been able to find stable jobs in Xinjiang, even years after being graduated from universities and polytechnic colleges.

Liu said those in that situation are often perceived as being rusty and, as a result, become less attractive to employers. Many find it difficult to compete in the job market with fresh graduates.

College graduates were once regarded as elites in China. But that was before the country started aggressively expanding university enrollment in the late 1990s. As the number of graduates rose, the increasing unemployment rate of "fallen elites" became an issue in cities across the country.

It is at its worse in Xinjiang, an underdeveloped and ethnically diverse region.

Xinjiang is home to 60,000 jobless college graduates. About 80 percent of them are members of ethnic groups such as the Uygur, Kazak, and Kyrgyz and 60 percent are women, according to statistics from the Xinjiang human resources and social security department.

"Unemployment among college graduates is not only a social problem but also an issue concerning Xinjiang's long-term stability and development," said Turwinjan Tursun, a researcher with the Academy of Social Sciences of Xinjiang. "Idle, jobless graduates are also a financial burden to their families."

Government statistics show that the unemployment rate in Xinjiang's urban areas hit 3.2 percent by the end of 2010.

Tursun said the innovative policy will go far to eliminate unemployment and the hardships suffered by those who lack work.

He said the current generation of Xinjiang youth is well-schooled and, with the proper training, will be able to seize the increasingly numerous opportunities that have been resulted from China's decision to boost the development of the autonomous region, which is blessed with an abundance of natural resources.