China's job market remains stable, says minister

Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, speaks at a news conference on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.[Photo by Edmond Tang/China Daily]

China's job market remains generally stable due to a stabilizing economy and pro-employment policies despite the economic slowdown, a top human resources official said on Sunday.

The country is confident about a sustained employment market as it moves forward to build a moderately prosperous society in 2020, Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, told a news conference on the sidelines of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

More than 65 million job opportunities were created in the past five years and 25 million laid-off workers were reemployed, he said.

"The general employment market in China is stable. On average, more than 13 million new job opportunities were created every year in the past five years in the urban areas," he told reporters. "Both the surveyed and registered unemployment rate in urban areas remained low though the growth of the Chinese economy has slowed down as reform of economic structure continues."

The CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to employment and Xi Jinping has said employment has a vital bearing on the people's livelihood and is related to life of thousands of families, he said.

The steady labor market came off the back of a stabilizing economy. The Chinese economy continues steady expansion with a medium-high growth rate and this created favorable conditions for employment, he said.

To ensure stable employment, China has rolled out an array of pro-employment and entrepreneurship policies, while the country's entrepreneurial wave and the growth of the tertiary industry has also helped fuel job creation, the minister said.

Thanks to the pro-entrepreneurship policies, currently 160,000 new economic entities are registered a day on average, which helps boost job opportunities, he said.

The growth of the proportion of the tertiary industry, which needs more labor than the secondary industry, in the Chinese economy has also contributed to the stable employment. From 2011 to 2015, 1.5 million new job opportunities were created, adding one percentage point every year to GDP growth. Since 2016, the number rose to 1.8 million, said Yin.

He said, however, the country still faces many challenges. Next year, the number of university graduates will reach an unprecedented high of 8 million and the number will remain high for a while. Meanwhile, there is a supply-demand gap for skilled workers in the country.