China announced Friday the opening of a special office designed to help Chinese young people find jobs or start their own businesses through international cooperation.

The office was jointly launched by the Youth Employment Network (YEN) under the United Nations (UN) and the All-China Youth Federation (ACYF) as a YEN branch in China.

The announcement was made at an international forum on youth employment held in Beijing, which was co-sponsored by the ACYF, YEN and the Central Committee of Communist Youth League of China.

The YEN Office China will introduce the successful models and advanced experiences of other countries to China and collaborate with international organizations to carry out youth employment programs in an effort to help China's young people find jobs, the press release said.

More than 100 international youth and labor workers, government officials from China and abroad and business leaders gathered at the forum to discuss how to promote international exchanges and cooperation and help build a harmonious society through pushing youth employment.

Ismail Amat, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, said at the opening ceremony that as a country with a large population of young people, China has always attached great importance to issue of youth employment.

According to data from nationwide sample survey of population changes, China's total population was 1.26 billion at the end of 2002, including 283 million young people aged between 15 and 29, representing 23.3 percent of the total population, said a report issued on Friday at the forum by the YEN Office China, the Research Institute of Labor Sciences with China's Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the International Labor Office (ILO).

The analysis report, titled "China's Survey on School to Work Transition," said that in 2003, China had an employment population of 744.32 million and a registered unemployed population in cities of 7.8 million, with the registered unemployment rate being 4.2 percent.

However, the report estimated the real unemployment rate may stand at 6.1 percent, of which, the estimated unemployment rate of the young people is 7.4 percent.

"The youth employment challenge remains with us," said Jane Stewart at the forum, ILO deputy executive director and also chairperson of the YEN Steering Committee, citing the young unemployed population in 2003 around the globe reported 88 million, accounting for 47 percent of the total unemployed population. There are one billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the world today, she said.

"To strive for decent work for youth is a key factor in reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development," she said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2005)