Job seekers attend a job fair in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 25, 2020. A job fair, which provided nearly 8,000 job vacancies, was held here on Sunday and attracted thousands of graduates. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

More than 10 million jobs were created in China's urban areas between January and October, an official said on Monday, describing the country's job market as "stable."

During the first 10 months, about 10.09 million new urban jobs were created, exceeding China's annual goal of creating 9 million jobs before the year had even ended, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced.

On an overall basis nationwide, the urban surveyed unemployment rate continued to decline, dropping from 5.4 percent in September to 5.3 percent in October, signaling "an overall stable employment situation," according to NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui. 

Tax cuts, growth in new-economy sectors and China's successful containment of the coronavirus created favorable conditions to revive the job market, Zhou Tianyong, a professor at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Many businesses shifted from physical premises to online amid the epidemic, creating more jobs in the courier and livestreaming sectors," Zhou said.

 

According to a report by job-hunting platform Zhilian Zhaopin released last month, recruitment demand in the entertainment, sports and leisure industries increased as much as 406.26 percent year-on-year, driven by the fast-growing livestreaming industry.

Demand for labor in the transportation and logistics industry rose in a linear fashion, pushed up by e-commerce shopping festivals.

According to the BOSS Direct Employment Research Institute, the average monthly salary in the third quarter in the transportation and logistics industry rose 8.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to 8,439 yuan ($1,285). Demand for supply chain and logistics positions increased by 58.1 percent.

According to the NBS, the surveyed unemployment rate among those aged 25-59 was 4.8 percent in October, the same as in September. The average work week was 46.7 hours.

China originally planned to create 9 million jobs in 2020 to resist pressure caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, according to a government work report in May.