China is hoping to cap unemployment at 4.5 percent this year, but is expecting an uphill battle as the number of jobs it can create is far less than the demand, state media said yesterday.
The government is facing a three-front battle: the rising number of new job seekers in urban areas, the large amount of excess labor in the countryside and the numerous laid-off workers seeking re-employment, the state-controlled Youth Daily said.
More than 22 million people join China's urban workforce each year, but only 8 million new jobs are created, leaving 14 million without jobs, the report said.
On top of that, there are an estimated 150 million excess laborers in the countryside -- or 20 percent of the around 800 million-strong rural population.
China's official unemployment rate rose to 4 percent by the end of last year and is forecasted to hit 4.5 percent this year, but the figure does not include laid-off workers and the rural jobless.
China's labor minister, however, revealed in November that the urban unemployment rate was about 7 percent. Since 1998, state-run enterprises had laid off a total of 26 million workers, according to officials late last year.
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