China faces huge employment pressure: minister

Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, gives a press conference on China's employment situation and social security in Beijing, March 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China faces huge employment challenges in 2012 brought by a large number of job seekers and the unbalanced job market, Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said Wednesday.

Chinese cities and towns will see 25 million more people join the workforce this year, half of whom will be university and college graduates, while another 9 to 10 million rural residents will seek jobs away from home, Yin said at a press conference during the ongoing parliamentary session.

While college graduates continue to complain of a lack of available jobs, Chinese factories are facing difficulties in recruiting workers and technicians, revealing structural problems in the job market, Yin said.

Yin said the Chinese government will introduce a package of measures aimed at expanding the job market and training workers, with a special focus on the employment of college graduates and rural migrant workers.

In a work report released on Monday, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government aims to create more than 12 million new jobs in cities and towns this year and kept the registered urban unemployment rate below 4.6 percent.

Last year, China added 12.21 million jobs in cities and towns and registered an urban unemployment rate of 4.1 percent.