China sees steady employment in August

The job market in the second largest economic country of the world remained stable in August, with the unemployment rate at a relatively low level, official data showed Friday.   

The unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.0 per cent, down 0.1 percentage points from the level in July and down 0.1 percentage points in August from the same period of last year, said the data.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s survey, the urban unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.9 per cent, down 0.1 percentage points from July and unchanged from August last year.

Starting from April this year, the NBS has regularly released the monthly surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas to help the government improve macro-control.

The NBS also provided information to the government for formulating employment policies, reports Xinhua.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed people who have participated in the employment survey in urban areas, including migrant workers in cities.

The rate was first introduced in 2014 to better reflect the job market and serve as a supplement to the registered urban unemployment rate compiled by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.