According to a report published by the National Development and
Reform Commission on April 27 China will face serious employment
difficulties over the next two quarters with 60 percent of new
graduates unable to find work.
The number of graduates will jump by 22 percent over the
previous year to reach 4.13 million while the job market can only
soak up 1.66 million of them. This is down 22 percent on the
previous year.
"It's hard to create new jobs in large numbers due to surplus
production capacity, more trade frictions and the revaluation of
the yuan, said Zhang Xiaojian, vice minister of the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security. "As a result it will be less easy to
tackle employment pressure."?
According to the report, due to stable economic growth, the
first quarter saw a healthy employment situation with a registered
urban unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, 2.52 million newly-added
urban laborers and 1.03 million laid-off workers back in
employment. ?
The level of surplus labor this year will reach 14 million which
is around one million more than last, the report states. .
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2006)