China will roll out a series of measures to maintain stable employment in 2019, Qiu Xiaoping, vice minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The country saw 13.61 million new jobs created in urban areas in 2018, making it the sixth consecutive year that more than 13 million new jobs were created over the year.
Targeted job projects and plans should be applied to assist college graduates, migrant rural workers, and veterans in finding jobs, according to the MHRSS. The measures include carrying out vocational skills training on a large scale, promoting entrepreneurship, increasing employment assistance for people in need, and strengthening public employment services.
China continues to support startups as the guarantee fund for startups will be also fully employed. Eligible individuals and small businesses are allowed to apply for a loan of up to 150,000 yuan and three million yuan respectively.
Urban unemployment was at 3.8 percent by the end of 2018, a record low in recent years.
"For 2019, China still faces large employment pressure, with more than 15 million newly-added job-seekers in urban areas, including a record number of 8.34 million college graduates, expected," said Qiu.
The MHRSS also said the salary payment of migrant rural workers should be guaranteed.
The number of basic endowment assurance coverage has reached 940 million. The accumulated balance of basic pension insurance funds for employees was nearly five trillion yuan in 2018.
