More than 80 million job opportunities have been created in China in the past decade.

"From 1998 to 2002, more than 3 million laid-off workers have found new jobs through various channels," said Minister of Labor and Social Security Zheng Silin on Thursday.

The expanded job opportunities are mainly from rapid economic development and positive employment policies. "On one hand, the rapid and steady economic development has provided large number of job opportunities," observers noted." On the other hand, policies, encouraging high employment rate, have a positive impact."

More than 14 million job opportunities have been created in the past one and half years, an increase of 2 million over the preceding same period, figures show.

China created 6.92 million new jobs last year, with the total number of the registered employed standing at 744.32 million, according to relevant statistics. Nearly half of the total employed, or more than 365 million, work in agriculture, according to a report released jointly by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the National Bureau of Statistics.

(Xinhua News Agency Sepetember 3, 2004)