A non-governmental organization in China is looking to launch a website which it says will help more ex-convicts get themselves back into the job hunt and able to find work for themselves without facing the type of discrimination that they might come across from day to day when seeking out a position.

The agency, which is based in Boaixinhang in the country's Xuhui province said that it hopes it will be able to help many convicts get a second chance in life when they come out of prison so that they do not have to rely on state help and feel the pinch financially.

At the current time, it has been reported that Boaixinhang alone has some 80,000 former criminals, and the agency said that it has underlined the problems that these people can find when they are on the hunt for a job, as they are often treated unfairly and with prejudice.

The Shanghai Assistance and Education Association (SAEA) helps convicts who are released from prison re-integrate themselves into society, and its director Huang Sizhen said that they can find it incredibly difficult to get into work.

He added that many people who are coming out of prison are over the age of 50, and have been incarcerated for normally more than ten years for crimes such as theft, fraud and other illegal acts. Because they have been in prison for so long, the director said many do not have any skills or a level of education, which makes it difficult for them to be employable.

However, it is also the case that many employers are just averse to hiring people with such a background. "They don't like ex-convicts, especially swindlers and drug addicts," Huang said.

This is the latest in a number of moves to help people who have been outwith normal society to get themselves back into Chinese culture, after it was revealed last year that a website had been launched which would help people who had been in the military find jobs with the government.