Recruiting in China

With 20 million new jobseekers flooding the market every year, China could face a 'very severe' unemployment situation, the country's labour minister has warned.

Tian Chengping predicted that the vast amount of new entrants to both the rural and urban job markets would continue for some time, according to AFX News.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao recently called for more measures to limit unemployment, which he wants kept below 4.5 per cent in towns and cities.

They include retraining workers with out-dated skills and doing more to encourage small start-up businesses.

Currently there is no definite figure for unemployment in China, which the news agency blames on unreliable employment statistics, but it predicts that it is "probably higher" than the rate of four per cent given at the end of 2007.

Despite concerns about joblessness, it was recently reported that some big-name firms in China are having difficulty recruiting enough migrant workers to meet their needs.