Chinese leaders warn of burgeoning jobless crisis

China's top leaders put a grim face on the country's unemployment situation and urged all levels of government to prioritize job creation and ensuring the living standards of millions of unemployed, state press said yesterday.

"Solving the unemployment and re-employment problem is an arduous and long-term task that will need a far-reaching, creative and active employment development strategy," President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) was quoted as telling a national meeting on employment.

"The unemployment and re-employment issue is a problem linked to the overall interests of the entire people and is fundamental to the stability of our reform and development," the People's Daily quoted him as saying.

Although some progress had been made, Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) told the meeting that the economy needed to maintain a brisk pace if a growing army of job seekers was to find employment.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security projects that the number of China's urban unemployed will stand at 14 million at the end of the year, exactly the same number as one year earlier.

If the economy grows by 7 percent this year, as targeted by the government, it will be possible to create 10 million new jobs.

This will be far from enough to occupy all idle hands, as there are currently 24 million people looking for work, the agency said on Friday.

These include 10 million young people who have just entered the labor force, 6 million who are laid off from state-owned enterprises and 8 million jobless who are registered with government agencies.

These statistics do not include "tens of millions" of jobless farmers who go to the cities and compete with urban residents for jobs.

Hu urged stronger measures aimed at encouraging enterprises to take on more workers, including subsidies, tax incentives, and credit opportunities.

He also called for the establishment of better unemployment services and government-subsidized training for laid off workers.

In the past the government has admitted only to an unemployment rate of about three percent, basing that figure exclusively on registered unemployed and not counting laid-off workers.

Laid-off workers usually stay attached to their former companies, receiving a minimum allowance.

Even the jobless figure that includes only registered unemployed and leaves out laid-off workers is going up, according to reports.