Job market remains on stable track

Students look for jobs at a career fair for graduates at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Sunday. LIU LI/FOR CHINA DAILY Q1 figures show slight drop in surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas China's job market remained on a stable track in the first quarter this year, with the surveyed unemployment rate registering a slight fall, according to the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The NBS said that the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.5 percent on average in the first quarter, falling by 0.1 of a percentage point from the fourth quarter of last year. However, people age 16 to 24 saw a higher surveyed unemployment rate of 19.6 percent in the past three months, up from 16.7 percent at the end of last year, while the rate for those age 25 to 59 was 4.3 percent, dropping from 4.8 percent at the end of 2022. In the past three months, the central government and social organizations have put efforts into promoting employment, especially for young people who may face hardships landing jobs due to fierce competition brought by the growing population of college graduates — projected to reach 11.58 million for this year alone.