China says already reached 2009 new job target
BEIJING, Dec 12 (Reuters) – In the first 10 months of the year China already exceeded the number of new jobs it aimed to create in 2009, state media said on Saturday, in another sign the country is emerging from the global economic crisis.
China created 9.4 million jobs in urban areas in the first 10 months, exceeding the government’s target of 9 million new jobs for the year, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
It added that about 4.4 million laid-off workers found new work in the January-October period, some 88 percent of the full-year goal of 5 million.
Officials had estimated that more than 20 million migrant workers lost jobs when the global financial crisis hit the Chinese economy, making job creation a priority for the government in its stimulus spending.
On Tuesday, the ministry estimated that China’s stimulus spending was on track to create at least 24 million jobs, offering its rosiest employment outlook since the financial crisis struck last year.
A recovery in employment is an essential precondition for Beijing to wind down its ultra-loose pro-growth policies adopted when the global financial turmoil devastated Chinese exports, leading factories to cut millions of jobs. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Bill Tarrant)