BEIJING- China created 12.44 million new urban jobs last year, meeting its target, but more efforts are needed to prop up employment amid uncertain economic conditions in 2024, the country’s human resources ministry told a press conference on Wednesday.
China set a goal to create around 12 million urban jobs in 2023. The job creation goal for this year is expected to be unveiled at the opening of the annual parliamentary meeting in March.
“China’s economic operation has become more uncertain with weak social expectations in 2024,” said Yun Donglai, deputy director of the ministry’s employment promotion department.
“The pressure on total employment will not decrease in 2024, and more efforts will be needed to stabilize employment,” said Yun.
Yun said more prominence would be given to priority targets, such as strengthening support for youth employment, including college graduates, and expanding job opportunities for them.
The world’s second-biggest economy grew 5.2 percent last year, meeting the government’s target, but it is burdened by a protracted property market downturn, weak consumer and business confidence, and mounting local government debt.
As businesses remained wary of adding workers in the face of uncertainties, a nationwide survey-based jobless rate increased to 5.1 percent in December from November’s 5.0 percent , official data showed last week.
For the full year of 2023, the average nationwide survey-based jobless rate dropped to 5.2 percent from 5.6 percent in 2022.
In a competitive job market, some Chinese college graduates are trading down to find a source of income as the youth jobless figure rose to a record high of 21.3 percent in June last year.
The National Bureau of Statistics resumed the publication of youth unemployment data in December after a five-month suspension. The December survey-based jobless rate for 16-24 year-olds, excluding college students, was at 14.9 percent.
Meanwhile, China’s central bank will cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves from Feb. 5, governor Pan Gongsheng said on Wednesday, the first such cut for the year as policymakers extend efforts to shore up a fragile economic recovery.
Pan said the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) would cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for all banks by 50 basis points (bps).
The move will free up 1 trillion yuan ($139.45 billion) to the market, the central bank chief said at a press conference in Beijing.
The PBOC will also cut re-lending and re-discount interest rates by 25 basis points for the rural sector and small firms from Jan 25.
The reduction follows earlier cuts of 25 bps for all banks in September and March last year.
The world’s second-largest economy has struggled to mount a strong post-COVID recovery as distress in the housing market, local government debt risks and weakening global demand slowed momentum.
A slew of policy measures have proven only modestly beneficial, raising pressure on authorities to roll out more stimulus.
In December, top Chinese leaders at a key meeting to chart the economic course for 2024 pledged to take more steps to support the recovery.
Analysts say more stimulus is needed this year as the government aims to spur growth to fend off deflationary risks and keep a lid on unemployment as businesses remained wary of adding workers.
But the central bank faces a dilemma as more credit is flowing to productive forces than into consumption, which could add to deflationary pressures and reduce the effectiveness of its monetary policy tools, analysts say.
The economy grew 5.2 percent in 2023, meeting the official target, but the recovery has been more shakier than investors had expected.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected economic growth to slow to 4.6 percent this year.
