A survey of 31 large and medium-sized Chinese cities found the unemployment rate remained at around 5 percent in the first eight months of the year, despite an economic slowdown, Premier Li Keqiang revealed on September 10.

It was the first time China formally disclosed a surveyed urban unemployment rate.

"More than 9.7 million urban jobs were created [by the end of August], which is over 100,000 more compared with the same period last year," Li said in a keynote speech at the opening of the Summer Davos forum.

China introduced the registered urban unemployment rate in the 1980s as an important indicator for macro-economic adjustment.