China will face serious employment difficulties during the next
two quarters with 60 percent of new graduates facing unemployment,
according to a report published by the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC).
The number of graduates will increase by 22 percent over the
previous year to reach 4.13 million while the job market can only
soak up 1.66 million new graduates, down 22 percent on the previous
year.
"It is hard to create new jobs in large numbers due to surplus
production capacity, more trade frictions and the revaluation of
the yuan. As a result, it will be less easy to tackle employment
pressure", said Zhang Xiaojian, vice minister of the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security.
According to the report, due to stable economic growth, the
first quarter saw a healthy employment situation with a registered
urban unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, 2.52 million newly-added
urban laborers and 1.03 million laid-off workers reemployed.
The level of surplus labor this year will reach 14 million,
around one million more than last year, the report said.
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2006)