Students use artificial intelligent facilities to seek employment at a job fair at the Chongqing Technology and Business University in Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, on April 9, 2024. Photo: VCG

China's urban surveyed unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent from January to May, down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

In May along, the urban surveyed unemployment rate came in at 5.0 percent, unchanged from April, down 0.2 percentage point year-on-year. 

The NBS data surveyed in 31 large Chinese cities stood at 4.9 percent in May, decreasing by 0.1 percentage points from April and by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year.

Analysts noted that China's stable economic recovery has underpinned the rebound in the job market, with a series of targeted measures put in place by the central and local governments in the first quarter, to create new opportunities for job seekers.

Liu Aihua, the NBS spokesperson, highlighted the stable performance and the upward trajectory of China's economy during a press conference on Monday, saying China's economy continues expansion in May, with industrial production above the designated size jumping 5.6 percent year-on-year.

Liu noted that the service sector, imports, and exports have all shown signs of recovery, with employment and price levels remaining stable, bolstered by ongoing macroeconomic policy support, strengthened external demand, the May Day holiday consumption rise, and other factors.

As China's economy continues on the upward trajectory since 2024, economic development has increasingly driven job market growth, solidifying the foundation for urban employment, Liu said.

In the coming months, targeted development of the new quality productive forces will stimulate the development of new sectors and job roles, creating new jobs. 

The spokesperson also emphasized the challenges related to employment and some structural contradictions, underscoring the need to continually enhance employment quality and achieve reasonable growth .

In June, local governments across China vowed to prioritize increasing jobs as a top work priority, focusing on employment of key demographic groups, and encouraging diverse avenues for job creation to ensure stable improvement of the employment market.

Data from the NBS showed that the average surveyed urban unemployment rate for the January-April period came in at 5.2 percent, down from 5.4 percent from the same period of 2023.

China aims to create over 12 million urban jobs and maintain the surveyed urban unemployment rate at roughly 5.5 percent in 2024, according to this year's Government Work Report.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said in late April that 3.03 million new jobs were created in the first quarter of 2024, signaling a good start for the employment market.

Analysts have emphasized the rapid development of new quality productive forces as a new driver of economic growth, which will increase the demand for human resources.

The digital economy and green economy are regarded as "blue oceans" for creating high-paying jobs with an enormous potential. According to forecasts, by 2030, China's digital economy development will have created jobs for a total of 449 million people.

Global Times