THE surveyed average urban unemployment rate in China came in at 5.1% in the first half of 2024, down 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed yesterday. The country’s employment situation has been stable in the first half of 2024, an NBS spokesperson said. “Economic growth, especially continuous recovery in the labor-intensive services sector provides solid support for steadily expanding employment. Policies to prioritize employment continue to yield results, while the boom of emerging industries and new business models give a boost to new types of jobs,” the Global Times quoted the spokesperson as saying. Since the second quarter, the country’s jobless rate has stabilized at 5%, with wholesale and retail consumption, catering and hospitality, and transport and other service industries seeing gains in created jobs, the NBS data showed. The artificial intelligence boom has led to significant increases in both job opportunities and compensation, as demand for tech talent remains high in China. In the first half of the year, China’s per capita disposable income of households reached 20,733 yuan (US$2,855), marking a nominal growth of 5.4% year-on-year. Real growth was 5.3% after deducting price factors, the data showed. Employment has been a priority for the policymakers. This year, China aims to create over 12 million jobs in urban areas and keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate at about 5.5%. The government has rolled out multiple measures to ensure a robust job market and provide more assistance to certain demographics, including college graduates and migrant workers. In May, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security unveiled a plan to offer community-level jobs for 34,400 college graduates this year, including jobs in education, agriculture, medical care and other sectors. China has invested 11.5 billion yuan so far this year to generate 250,000 jobs for rural residents, according the National Development and Reform Commission. (SD-Agencies) | 