Jobseekers face tough time in New Year

By Liang Qiwen (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-17 07:59

GUANGZHOU - More than 2.4 million people found new jobs in Guangdong province in the first 11 months of the year, but the situation will worsen over the next three months as the economic slowdown starts to bite, the provincial labor authority said on Tuesday.

Between January and November, more than 1.8 million people started their first job, while 626,000 others found new ones after being made redundant, the Guangdong labor and social security department said in a press release.

But the healthy jobs market is set to experience hard times in the New Year, it said.

The number of unemployed will increase in the first quarter of next year, with the manufacturing sector being the worst hit, it said.

More factories are forecast to close, which will be bad news for migrant workers, it said.

Unskilled workers, migrant or otherwise, and college and vocational school graduates who lack experience will find it most difficult to find work, the department said.

Labor authorities have said they will do all they can to minimize the effects of the jobs crisis, including encouraging people to set up their own businesses and giving priority to families that have more than one member out of work.

Li Xiaolu, director of the Guangdong education department, said the financial crisis has created the worst jobs market for three decades.

More than 330,000 new graduates will look for work in Guangdong next year, but there will be only 44 job fairs, he said.

At the 16 fairs held this year, 260,000 applications were submitted for the 40,000 jobs on offer, he said.