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China – Job market is “severe” and finding work is difficult

22 September 2014

A labour market survey carried out by the People's Bank of China found that 42.8% of mainland residents believe the job market is facing "a severe situation", and that finding new jobs is difficult, reports The South China Morning Post.

Only 12.9% of residents feel the employment situation is good and finding a job is easy, while 44.3% think it is just "so-so".

Despite this, the positive perception of employment rose to 39.2%, up from 38.6% in the previous quarter, according to a statement posted on the central bank's website. Job expectations also rose to 48.2% from 47.8% over the same period.

Premier Li Keqiang has claimed that the current job situation is a more important indicator than the rate of economic growth.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum last week, Mr Li said the stable jobless rate of around 5% during the first eight months of the year, and nearly 10 million new urban jobs created so far this year, offered comfort for the government to tolerate the slower economic growth.

However, economists raised concern about the health of the job market as industrial output expanded at its slowest pace in six years, with local governments pushed to reduce polluting or redundant capacities at many plants.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting warned "The employment statistics in China [are] of low quality.”

The official urban registered jobless rate has been blamed by researchers for failing to reflect the overall labour flows as it excludes data about migrant workers.

The authorities have not begun disclosing the survey-based jobless rate regularly, which is believed to be a more accurate gauge than registered numbers.