Officials:China's Employment Situation "Better than Expected"

China's top labor authority says the country's employment situation is better than expected in the first half of the year.

Official figures show nearly 6.4 million new jobs have been created over the past six months. Yet the authority still warns of the tough task of expanding employment in the remainder of the year.

Yunfeng has the details.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reports a 4.2 percent urban registered jobless rate at the end of June, unchanged from three months earlier.

It says the 6.4 million new jobs represent over 70 percent of the job creation target for the whole year.

Yin Chengji, a spokesman for the ministry, describes the employment situation as stable and optimistic.

"We have received better than expected results of the employment situation in the first half of the year. In particular, the employment rate of college graduates and migrant workers have recovered to or even exceeded the level before the global financial crisis."

The spokesman attributes this to the robust economic recovery and effective job-creation polices.

He says government-subsidized job training programs have benefited more than 7 million people during the past two quarters.

But Yin Chengji says a heavy task still lies ahead in terms of persistent job creation.

"Uncertain and unstable factors still exist in China's economic development. Moreover, the negative impact of the global financial crisis has not yet disappeared. Under this situation, I think we will face many difficulties in stabilizing and expanding employment."

The official reveals that about 12 million jobs are still needed. And it becomes more difficult to provide jobs for the youth, in particular the 6.3 million fresh college graduates.

Furthermore, the spokesman estimates that about 1 million jobs will be lost as a result of the closure of outdated production facilities.

Liu Erduo, a labor professor from Renmin University of China, says the government should also brace itself for another difficulty.

"Disputes between employers and employees are on the increase. Now employees often demand higher salaries. If the salary goes up by large margins, employment expansion will be harmed."

The professor stresses that the government should carefully balance the need of expanding employment and that of raising salaries for workers.

Official figures show that 23 provincial-level regions have raised the monthly minimum salary by an average of 20 percent in the first half of the year.

For CRI, I'm Yunfeng.