China’s job market was better than expected in January and February, and the country’s employment will continue to pick up this year, Wang Xiaoping, the human resources minister, said. According to the Financial Post, China’s economy is warming up after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions late last year, with both manufacturing and services activities expanding sharply since the beginning of 2023. Companies are slowly adding jobs again, after shedding staff for months. “With an improvement in economic operation, the employment will continue to pick up and remain overall stable,” Xiaoping said.

Xiaoping said more work needs to be done as people are expecting more job opportunities, more reasonable pay and more reliable social security. “In 2023, the number of college graduates will reach 11.58 million, and the structural conflict between difficulty of recruitment and finding jobs remains outstanding,” Xiaoping said, adding the government will step up support to help college graduates, migrant workers and unemployed people. Markets expect the annual meeting of parliament, which kicks off this weekend, will set economic targets including the goal of new urban jobs created and elect new top economic officials.