BEIJING: China’s employment landscape remains promising, though the ongoing epidemic and the structural imbalance in the labor force will put pressure on authorities in stabilizing the job market.
According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 11.4 million people have landed jobs in urban areas in the past 11 months, exceeding the annual target of 11 million.
However, there is an oversupply of labor, with the working population aged 16 to 59 reaching 880 million by the end of 2021, according to a report submitted to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress — China’s top legislature — for review on Wednesday.
The report said that the working population will remain around 850 million over the next three years, and the large labor force will put pressure on the stability of the job market as vacancies lessen due to economic uncertainties.
Yu Jiadong, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said the job market also faces an intensifying structural imbalance between the labor force and the market’s needs. “For example, attendants and skilled workers are in short supply, while some people’s skills can’t be adapted to the higher standards required by upgraded industry, which will hamper their career development,” he said. He said that the aging problem and weaker competitiveness of the middle-aged population are also aggravating the imbalance in the job market. “We have tens of millions of college students graduating every year and the population of young people aged between 16 to 24 years old will reach 140 million by 2025.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
