URUMQI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has helped 41,000 impoverished people in the most poverty-stricken south part of the region find employment in the first quarter, the regional government said Wednesday.

　　The move was part of a poverty-relief plan to employ 100,000 poor people by 2020.

　　The regional human resources and social security department said that it had organized skill training programs for laborers from impoverished counties in Kashgar, Hotan, Kizilsu and Aksu prefectures to help them get jobs.

　　The government has also been supporting small startups to create more jobs.

　　As part of China's objective of eliminating absolute poverty by 2020 to create a "moderately prosperous society," Xinjiang's regional government is determined to help 22 impoverished counties eradicate poverty.