employment Photo: VCG

Chinese authorities will focus on supporting employment for college graduates and assisting them to start businesses in 2023, as a new record of 11.58 million graduates are to enter the workforce this year, a senior official said.

The overall employment situation will remain stable in 2023 as the economy continues to recover with optimized anti-COVID responses and pro-growth policies, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping told the Xinhua News Agency in an interview published on Monday.

Policies that help graduates find jobs will be "a top priority" in 2023, Wang said, pledging to "go all out to maintain overall stability in employment."

Pressure and challenges persist for hiring, as the number of graduates in 2023 will reach a new high - 820,000 more than the previous year - and the structural employment problem is acute.

As part of efforts to help graduates find jobs and stabilize employment, government agencies and provinces are rolling out multiple measures.

The Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau issued a notice asking human resources companies in the capital city to resume in-person job fairs starting from January 8.

All human resources companies are asked to actively engage with companies that face tight labor forces amid manufacturing and business resumption, and to hold a variety of job fairs targeting college graduates, rural workers and those who have difficulty in finding jobs, according to the government agency.

Urumqi, the capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Saturday announced measures to support steady economic growth this year.

Urumqi will promote flexible employment and new forms of work through multiple channels, designate areas suitable for the development of the street stall economy and morning and night markets, as well as build at least 100 markets for start-up businesses in 2023, Li Zhiguo, deputy director of the Urumqi municipal bureau of human resources and social security, said at a press briefing.

Other provinces including East China's Fujian, Central China's Hunan and Northeast China's Heilongjiang have announced measures to further stabilize employment in 2023.

"This year, the employment situation for graduates is expected to be better than last year, as the swift economic recovery following the optimization of anti-COVID measures will stimulate enterprises' vitality and create more jobs," Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Accounting for about 70 percent of the country's new labor supply each year, graduates are a key group for the task of stabilizing employment, Li said.

The government could offer preferential policies targeting graduates while encouraging employers to create more jobs, Li said.

China maintained employment stability for 2022, with 12.06 million jobs created in urban regions, exceeding the annual target of 11 million ahead of schedule, according to Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

"In the long term, we should continue to vigorously develop the digital economy and steadily realize industrial upgrading and transformation to create more high-quality jobs," said Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University.

The tone-setting annual Central Economic Work Conference held in December said that the government supports internet-based platform companies in growing their businesses, which will help create jobs.

The authorities should increase investment in the training of unemployed workers so they can gain the skills for new jobs, Cao said. Employment in rural areas could also be promoted along with rural revitalization, for example, training services workers for the development of rural tourism.