Jobs increase in second quarter

By Tan Yingzi and Eric Nilson (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-25 09:21

China saw a slight increase in jobs in the second quarter while its urban unemployment rate stayed at 4.3 percent, bucking a global shrinking job market, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Friday.

From February to June, the number of jobs grew by 0.13 percent over the previous quarter (October 08 - January 09), according to a ministry survey of more than 513 major companies in five provinces.

"It is a very slight but very positive change," ministry spokesman Yin Chengji said.

The number of jobs fell by 8.05 percent between October and January, but the government's stimulus package helped stem urban unemployment after two consecutive increases since the fourth quarter last year, he said.

Due to the global economic slowdown, the jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter last year - the first increase in five years, before hitting 4.3 percent in the first quarter of this year.

The ministry aims to keep the unemployment rate below 4.6 percent this year, which would still make it the highest level of unemployment since 1980.

The jobless rate does not include the country's 230 million migrant workers, who make up the main workforce in the labor-intensive industries of the coastal regions.

Officials from the National Bureau of Statistics had earlier said that more rural migrant workers found jobs in cities in the second quarter, up by nearly 4 million from the first quarter.

"The employment situation has been stabilizing after the rebound in the first quarter," Yin said. "It is better than expected."

The ministry has achieved more than half of its goals in the past six months, creating jobs for 5.69 million new urban workers, 2.71 million laid-off workers, and 790,000 people who were facing difficulties finding work, officials said.

This year, the ministry aims to create jobs for 9 million new urban workers, 5 million laid-off workers and 1 million others encountering difficulty finding work.