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Unemployment rate in major cities holds firm at 5%
Print Edition
THE rate of unemployment in 31 medium- and large-sized Chinese cities remained about 5 percent in the first eight months of the year, despite the economic slowdown, Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday.
The announcement, made during Li’s opening speech at the Summer Davos forum, was the first time the government has formally disclosed a surveyed urban unemployment rate.
“More than 9.7 million urban jobs were created (through August), which is 100,000 more than in the same period of last year,” Li said.
China introduced the registered urban unemployment rate in the 1980s as an indicator for macro-economic adjustment. But critics have questioned its accuracy, saying it understates the true unemployment rate.
The survey rate counts only permanent urban residents who register for benefits. It is not based on representative sample surveys, and also excludes temporary residents.
In the first half of the year, the registered urban unemployment rate was under 4.1 percent, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said.
The surveyed unemployment rate disclosure came more than a month after the Cabinet said the statistics authority should employ a more extensive sample survey to more accurately compile the jobless rate in cities. The results would allow policy-makers to better understand the job market, it said.
New steps for reform taken by the government have helped to create more jobs, Li said.
Since the start of the year, the government has accelerated its reform of the administrative review and approval system. More than 200 items have been removed or delegated to lower levels, while the business registration reforms, among others, have been carried out nationwide, Li said.
This has lowered the threshold for setting up businesses and removed restrictions, thus giving a boost to business development, he said.
In the first eight months, more than 8 million new businesses were registered, while for the March to August period, the figure jumped 61 percent, indicating an upsurge that has generated a substantial number of jobs, he said.
The government also has introduced reforms to the systems of financing, investment, taxation and logistics, and further opened the gate for the development of the service sector and other emerging industries.
All these measures have been vital in fostering and increasing job opportunities, Li said.
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