A student at Shandong University of Science and Technology scans companies' QR codes at a job fair in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, on Saturday. Nearly 400 companies and institutes from 12 provincial-level regions offered more than 16,000 jobs at the recruitment fair. Photo: IC

China created 10.09 million urban jobs between January and October, a Chinese official said on Monday, describing the country's job market as "stable."

During the first 10 months of the year, about 10.09 million new urban jobs were created, reaching China's annual goal of creating 9 million jobs ahead of schedule, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate continues to decline, dropping from 5.4 percent in September to 5.3 percent in October, signaling "an overall stable employment situation," according to NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui. 

The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities also declined to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent in September. 

In terms of age groups, among the 25-59 year-old group, the surveyed unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in October, the same as in September. 

In October, the average weekly working hours of employees in enterprises were 46.7 hours.

China planned to create 9 million jobs in 2020, as the country seeks to stabilize rising unemployment, which is essential to social stability amid serious pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a government work report in May.