Unemployment will be a long-term problem in China as the country has a large population but insufficient jobs, Tian Chengping, minister of Labor and Social Security, said Thursday during a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC.

 

Tian said more than 24 million people will find jobs every year in cities and towns in the next few years, while the country can only offer 11 million vacancies. The problem is much more serious in middle and western regions, he said.

 

In rural areas, about 100 million people are unemployed among the workforce of 497 million.

 

Tian said China has made an effort to decrease its unemployment rate. From 1998 to 2005, 19 million laid-off workers were reemployed, and the unemployment rate in urban areas remained stable at 4.2 percent by the end of last year.

 

The country has set up more than 36,000 job agencies.

 

At a regular State Council meeting on July 25, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed that China should keep its urban unemployment rate within 5 percent in the coming five years.

 

(Shanghai Daily September 15, 2006)