China created jobs for more than 10 million urbanites in the
first ten months of the year, achieving a yearly goal much earlier
than expected, according to an official with the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security.
"Employment situation in China has been stable this year, with
the first ten months completing 113 percent of the nine-million-job
target set for the whole year," Vice Minister Zhang Xiaojian said
Saturday at a national conference of employment.
The country's urban unemployment rate was registered at four
percent by the end of September, down from 4.1 percent recorded at
the end of last year, Zhang said, adding 95.7 percent of the
country's former "zero employment" families had at least one person
finding jobs again.
The Chinese government is under great pressure to create new
jobs for the annual influx of ten million job seekers flocking into
in the country's urban areas.
With more college graduates entering the job market each year,
employment issue would become "more protruding", Zhang said, urging
relevant departments to help registered unemployed graduates find
new jobs soon.
More than 100 million "young migrant workers" born after 1980
had migrated to Chinese cities, according to Zhang, who warned
their employment prospect was "grim" and "globalization would
increase the risk of unemployment".
Statistics show that a total of 11.84 million urban Chinese
found jobs last year, the first time China saw the number of newly
employed urban people exceed 10 million in one year.
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2007)