Business News

Employment situation still grave in China, senior official says

Aug 4, 2009, 10:54 GMT

Beijing - The situation for China's job-seekers is still grave, with two thirds of university graduates unemployed, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday. Around 3 million students who graduated in 2008 and 2009 have not been able to find jobs, Wang Yadong, a senior official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security told a press conference in Beijing. However, according to Wang the situation for the country's 140 million migrant workers was more optimistic. While 18 million migrant workers went home jobless during the country's biggest holiday, the Spring Festival, Wang said 95 per cent had returned to cities, and 5 per cent had found work in their home towns or set up their own businesses. Only 3 per cent of those who had returned to urban areas were still struggling to find work, he said. In the wake of the economic crisis, the Chinese government released a 4-trillion-yuan (586-billion-dollar) stimulus package with a focus on new projects in infrastructure construction, social welfare, technology, and the environment. Wang said the government will aim to keep the urban unemployment rate under 4.6 per cent in the second half of the year, in line with the 4.3 per cent measured in the first half.

Business News

Employment situation still grave in China, senior official says

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