Job seekers search for vacancy on a bulletin at a job fair in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, March 18, 2023. More than 500 on-line and off-line recruiting events have been scheduled during this job fair, the largest of its kind in recent years held in the province, offering over 115,000 vacant positions in total. (Photo:Xinhua)

Youth employment including college graduates remains basically stable and continues to improve, China's Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaoping said, stressing that more job opportunities will be created in the  digital and green economy in addition to new retail. 

China's employment situation has generally improved so far this year and remained basically stable, Wang said in an interview with the People's Daily published on Tuesday.

In the first nine months, the country created 10.22 million new urban jobs, completing its 85 percent of the annual target. By the end of September, the country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 percent, lower than that in the same period in 2019, Wang said.

She said employment of young people including college graduates remained basically stable and continued to improve, and that the number of rural migrant workers continued to increase. 

Although the country's vacant jobs outweigh the number of job seekers, there is still a gap in expectations for salaries, social security and career development, Wang said, vowing increased effort to promote high-quality and sufficient employment to better satisfy labor market expectations.

She urged efforts to promote coordinated development of the modern industrial system and human resources, support industries and enterprises which support job creation, and explore new employment growth points in promoting coordinated regional development and rural revitalization.

China will further fine-tune the country's employment support system for key groups, including young people, rural laborers and people in difficulties to ensure basic livelihood and resolutely prevent and resolve major risks, such as large-scale unemployment, Wang said.

"We are full of confidence in keeping the employment situation stable in the future as economic recovery continues to consolidate and positive factors for stabilizing employment keep accumulating," the minister stressed.