China's job market managed to remain stable in the third quarter despite a slowdown in the country's economy.

From July to September a total of 3.39 million new jobs were created, one of the best quarterly performance in "several years," Yin Chengji, a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, told a briefing yesterday.

The unemployment rate remained at the same level of 4.1 percent in the third quarter from a quarter earlier and was unchanged for the fifth straight quarter. The government aims to limit the urban jobless rate within 4.6 percent this year.

In the first nine months, China created a total of 9.94 million new jobs, about 10 percent above the target of 9 million new jobs for the whole year, Yin said.

That's against 6.55 million new jobs in the first half and 9.31 million in the same period last year.

China's gross domestic product slowed to 9.1 percent in the third quarter, the third consecutive quarter where growth eased, and the least in two years due to declining exports.

However, the economic slowdown hasn't had a ''noticeable impact'' on employment, according to Yin. The ministry is ''closely monitoring'' economic developments and will take targeted steps to maintain a stable jobs market, he added.

But the official data from the ministry may not reflect the real job situation in China since they exclude millions of rural workers who move from province to province to find jobs.

A survey of the entire population in 2008 showed the estimated jobless rate may have hit 9.4 percent that year, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Yin cautioned the job market's outlook in China could be even grimmer considering the huge number of new graduates every year. This year may see 6.6 million university graduates join the job market while over 7 million may do so next year, according to government data.

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