Amid a continued economic slowdown, China’s unemployment rate for the first time in recent years has increased amid reports of layoffs by both state—owned enterprises and private sector firms due to over capacity and falling demand but the government has played it down.
The registered unemployment rate in China’s cities stood at 4.05 per cent at the end of September, slightly up from 4.04 per cent in June, official data showed Tuesday.
China created 10.66 million new jobs for urban residents in the first nine months, Li Zhong, spokesperson for Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said here today.
The government wants to create at least 10 million new jobs and hold the unemployment rate below 4.5 per cent this year.
“China’s job market was generally stable in the first three quarters,” said state—run Xinhua news agency quoting Li.
There were 109 positions for every 100 job hunters in the third quarter, indicating a generally—balanced job market, Li said citing a survey by the ministry across 100 cities.
With the economy feeling the weight of downward pressure, there had been a decline in job vacancies.
In the first nine months, positions at 30,000 monitored companies dropped by nearly five per cent, Xinhua said.
The country’s economy expanded 6.9 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in six years.
The government wants to keep economic growth at around 7 per cent for 2015. Concerns are steadily mounting as many firms are announcing layoffs.
The government—owned Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group has recently announced plans to lay off 100,000 workers.
Several government and private firms including Alibaba have been pruning their staff strength in view of weakening demand and declining profits.