China's registered urban unemployment rate in 2004 was 4.2
percent, 0.4 percentage points below the estimate made at the
beginning of the year.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security attributes the
improvement to the sustained rapid GDP growth and the country's
various measures to boost employment, including offering jobs to
the millions of laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises.
Minister of Labor and Social Security Zheng Silin said that
China still faces problems that will not be fixed in a short term,
like the gap between supply and demand for labor.
"China will continue to implement active employment policies and
boost employment in 2005. The main target for this year is to
create a total of nine million new jobs and to hold the urban
unemployment rate under 4.6 percent," said Zheng.
He stated that the government will continue to offer small
reemployment loans to those who have lost their jobs. It will also
accelerate the establishment of a public employment services system
to intensify guidance and training of the workforce.
(CRI February 18, 2005)