China jobless rate rises
BEIJING (China) – CHINA’S registered urban jobless rate, the only official measure of unemployment in China, rose to 4.3 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2009 from 4.2 per cent three months earlier, local media reported on Wednesday.
It marked the highest registered urban jobless rate since June 2006, though the figure is based on a narrow population segment and probably understates the real unemployment level by a wide margin.
Officials, concerned about the prospect of rising unrest, have warned that China faces a severe test this year in providing enough new jobs, especially for the country’s millions of migrant workers and new graduates.
The registered urban jobless figures exclude migrant workers and farmers. Economists say the real jobless rate is probably at least twice as high.
Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, was quoted by a financial website, caihuanet.com, as saying that the end-March jobless rate hit 4.3 percent.