More than 44 percent of university seniors in the city have secured jobs after graduation as of Friday, down 2 percentage points from the same period in 2012, the Shanghai Evening Post reported Monday.

The closely watched statistic, which local universities track annually, shows the proportion of graduating seniors who have signed employment agreements so far this year. The number has received a lot of attention recently from local media outlets, many of which have proclaimed 2013 as the toughest year in recent memory for graduating seniors seeking their first job.

The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission disputes that assessment. The commission called a press conference Monday to assert that the figure is in line with past years.

The situation is no worse than it was from 2009 to 2011, said Li Ruiyang, the commission's deputy director.

The gap between this year's and last year's figures gradually closed over the course of April, which is the month when many seniors begin signing employment agreements, Li said.

As of April 10, the agreement signing rate was 4.07 percentage points lower than the previous year, according to the commission. By April 25, the gap had shrunk to 3.17 percentage points.

There are 152,000 positions available for the city's 178,000 graduating seniors this year, though the commission predicts that about 48,000 graduates will choose to continue their education rather than enter the labor market.

Although there appears to be enough open positions for the graduates, it does not mean every student will easily find a job, said Chen Dongyuan, an official from the division of employment at the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

The proportion of students who sign an employment agreement ultimately hinges on whether graduating seniors can meet employer requirements, and vice versa, Chen said.

Many students have not been satisfied with the salaries they have been offered, while many companies have found the experience of many graduates lacking, a commission official said. The mutual dissatisfaction has also contributed to the lower agreement rate.

"One reason why the signing rate is still below 50 percent is because some students are holding out for better offers," Chen told the Global Times. "The rate will probably rise over the next month."

Chen said the slowdown in economic growth has also caused a drop in the number of open positions as many companies have no plans to recruit new employees.

By comparison, the signing rate for vocational students has exceeded last year's by 1.2 percentage points. Some vocational school students have acquired an edge over university students because of the practical skills they have learned, the official said.