Recruiting in China

China announced Wednesday there was a recovery in its job market in the first four months of this year with 3.65 million urban residents finding new jobs.

Noting the improvement, announced by the Chinese Cabinet, Yang Weiguo at Renmin University of China told the China Daily the short-term measures instituted to counter the employment pressures have been adequate. He said China now must create jobs that meet the needs of development.

The measures taken by the government to boost employment include expanding domestic consumption, reducing enterprises' tax burden, encouraging graduates and migrant workers to be self-employed and setting up vocational training.

Xinhua reported China's urban jobless rate stood at 4.2 percent at the end of 2008 with 8.86 million on the unemployment rolls.

The government plans to allocate $6.13 billion this year for creating jobs, up 66.7 percent from last year, the State Council said while warning the country still faced a tough employment problem because of labor oversupply and economic structural issues.

The employment situation remains especially grave for college graduates, whose numbers are expected to swell to more than 6 million this year, even as 1 million graduates from last year are still trying to find jobs.