China faces employment challenge, minister says

Asian Economic News, March 9, 2008

BEIJING, March 9 Kyodo

Keeping unemployment low continues to be a challenge for China as the number of laborers it produces is far larger than that of jobs it creates, Labor and Social Security Minister Tian Chengping said Sunday.

Tian said that while about 20 million new laborers emerge in urban and rural areas each year, cities can provide only around 12 million jobs annually.

A large number of rural laborers are flowing into the cities, Tian said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's parliament.

''The employment situation at the moment continues to be very severe,'' the minister said.

At last week's opening of the ongoing session of the National People's Congress, Premier Wen Jiabao said unemployment in urban areas should be kept at around 4.5 percent this year.