China says jobless rate lowest in years

China's unemployment rate has hit its lowest point in multiple years at 3.95 percent by the end of September, but employment still face challenges as the economy pushes ahead with structural reforms, China's labour ministry said yesterday.

The ministry of human resources and social security said in a statement that 10.97 million new jobs had been created in China from January to September this year, a growth of 300,000 compared with the previous year. The figure represents having essentially fulfilled the ministry's year-end target, the ministry said in a pre-prepared statement given to reporters. Despite being ahead of schedule, Yin Weimin, head of the ministry, told reporters that "raising the capacity to employ workers overall still faces large pressures."

"We need to create 15 million jobs per year," Yin said, singling out China's more than 8 million new university graduates that enter the job market each year as one group in need of additional employment. Yin also said the low unemployment rate in the face of an overall slowdown in the economy was largely due to the new internet economy and entrepreneurship, adding that the ministry would actively support startups to help them "thrive". From 2015 to 2020 every one percent increase in GDP is expected to equal roughly 1.8 million new jobs, Yin said.