People attend a job fair at the Hongshan Gymnasium in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Dec. 2, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
China created 10.45 million new urban jobs in the first three quarters of 2021, completing 95 percent of the government's annual jobs target, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The stable employment market eased concerns on China's economic growth momentum and secures the prospect for the world's second largest economy to head for annual 7.5-8 percent economic growth, analysts said. 

China's GDP expanded 4.9 percent in the third quarter, slowing from previous quarters amid a power crunch and global supply chain bottleneck. 

The average urban unemployment rate in the first three quarters registered at 5.2 percent, lower than the annual target of around 5.5 percent, according to the NBS.

In September, the urban unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, declining 0.2 percentage points compared with August. The average weekly working hours in Chinese companies reported at 47.8 hours in September, growing 0.3 hours month-on-month. 

According to a report by the leading Chinese job-hunting platform Zhilian Zhaopin, the average monthly salary in China hit 9,739 yuan ($1,513) in September, growing 4.2 percent month-on-month, with securities and medical equipment industries leading the growth. 

Service industries pillar China's job employment market with a great number of farmers pouring into big cities to work at the courier business and other catering sectors. Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the NBS told the press conference on Monday that the number of employed migrant rural workers has basically recovered to a pre-COVID level. 

By the third quarter, around 183.03 million migrant workers went to cities to seek jobs, growing 2 percent year-on-year.

"China's job sector has maintained stability and it's improving … and the economic growth will definitely enable its annual jobs target to be realized," Li Chang'an, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics' School of Public Administration, told the Global Times on Monday. 

But from the economic performance in the third quarter, Li warned that job pressure still lingers. "The surging raw material prices have put small and medium-sized enterprises under pressure, leaving some in fiscal trouble," he noted.

Global Times