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October 22, 2020

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Jobs market is bouncing back from virus impact

As China effectively brought the coronavirus under control and its economy emerged from decline, its labor market has recovered some lost ground and become more vibrant.

The surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.4 percent in September, 0.2 percentage points lower than in August and easing back from 6.2 percent at the beginning of 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

College graduates, a key jobseeker group, hit a record 8.74 million this year, increasing the competitiveness of an already hot job market after the offline spring recruitment season was interrupted by the pandemic.

But the situation began to reverse in September and October, the peak season for autumn campus recruitment events.

In September, the surveyed unemployment rate among junior college diploma and higher degree recipients aged between 20 and 24 — the majority of new college graduates — registered a notable 2.4 percentage point contraction from the previous month, according to NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua.

In this year’s government work report, China vowed to prioritize stabilizing employment and ensuring living standards, aiming to add over 9 million new urban jobs and maintain the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 6 percent.

Getting back to work

Local governments have since put job creation at the top of their work agendas, unveiling policies with solid tax and fee cuts to encourage enterprises to offer more posts.

Preferential tax and fee measures unveiled this year saved 1.17 trillion yuan (US$175.31 billion) in the first eight months, according to the State Taxation Administration.

The measures reduced the labor costs of enterprises and ensured the stability of employment, said Cai Zili, an official with the administration.

Governments have also worked with relevant departments, state-owned enterprises and public institutions to reserve positions for college graduates. Jobs have been provided for over 2.8 million graduates as of September 1, an increase of more than 700,000 from last year, under efforts to broaden employment channels, according to education official Wang Hui.

As a slew of supportive measures began to take effect, the job market regained strength during the golden season.




 

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