Workers make shoes at a shoemaking company in Putian, southeast China's Fujian Province, April 27, 2020. Under strict measures taken to fight against the COVID-19, some manufacturing enterprises in Putian have made efforts to ensure stable performance in employment and production. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)

China posted slightly worse unemployment data on Friday and analysts are now urging the government to roll out more targeted measures to shore up jobs.

China's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 6 percent in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday. 

The data was slightly weaker than March's 5.9 percent and fell short of the 5.8 percent predicted by Chinese analysts. The unemployment rate was 1 percentage point higher than that of 2019.

Analysts said the surveyed employment data was only a reflection of China's employment landscape, which is bleak given the COVID-19 pandemic's continued onslaught on the global and Chinese economies. But the data unveiled on Friday suggested more precise monetary and fiscal relief measures are needed to shore up small and medium-sized enterprises, the biggest providers of jobs in China, and to ensure people's incomes.   

Tang Jianwei, chief macro analyst at the Financial Research Center of the Bank of Communications, said the 0.1 percent difference from projected data was not highly significant but that given real world pressure, more targeted measures are needed.

"Measures could include zero-interest loans for SMEs that have refrained from slashing jobs during the pandemic. So far China lacks such a policy despite a raft of other supportive policies," Tang told the Global Times on Friday.

China created 3.54 million jobs during the January-April period, according to NBS figures. 

NBS official Liu Aihua has warned of mounting pressure on key groups including rural migrant workers and a projected 8.74 million new university graduates.

However, more rural workers have been leaving their hometowns and traveling to cities for jobs, recovering to about 90 percent of pre-virus levels by the end of April, Liu said. The urban unemployment rate has recovered from March's 18.3 percent to April's 3.5 percent.

Wan Zhe, chief economist at the China National Gold Group Corp, told the Global Times that the new unemployment data was within expectations as the pandemic has had a delayed impact on jobs.

The fact that a full work and production recovery has been constrained by the global spread of COVID-19 has added extra pressure for job generation, Wan said.

Tang said the government will need to create at least 10 million new jobs to achieve its stated goal of stabilizing employment. 

The 10-million figure has taken into consideration the economic difficulties caused by the coronavirus outbreak, as China has added over 13 million jobs each year for the past seven years.

The People's Liberation Army said it would prioritize the recruitment of new university graduates in 2020, with its recruitment program starting on Friday. 

The program focuses on recruiting students majoring in computer science, transportation, automation, telecommunications, medical science and languages.

Global Times