A great number of people have been employed in Beijing over the past seven years as job opportunities kept emerging amid the city's preparation for the Olympics, a local official said here Saturday.

The employed population increased to 9.427 million as of 2007 from the 6.289 million in 2001, when Beijing won the bid to host the Games, with an average annual growth of 448,000 new job positions, Lu Yingchuan, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference at the 2008 Beijing International Media Center.

Beijing registered 16.33 million permanent residents last year, and 1.89 percent of the urban and township people remained unemployed, according to statistics from Beijing Labor and Social Security Bureau.

Efforts will be made this year to create 330,000 new job opportunities and reemploy another 170,000 laid-offs, according to the bureau.

Beijing has witnessed continuous economic and social development over the past seven years, and it has been proved that the Olympics pushed for the overall social improvement such as the promotion of job insurance and medical service, government performance building, investment in social welfare and education, development of sports and cultural activities, according to Lu.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2008)