CROWDED JOB MARKET: More than 900 unemployed people in Hubei Province attend a job fair held by the local government to find work

The sweeping global financial crisis, sparked by the U.S. subprime mortgage credit crunch, has taken its toll on jobs at major international companies. Employees at financial companies in particular have faced massive layoffs.

But to what extent has the global financial crisis affected employment in China--or more importantly, how will it affect the country in the near future?

Yin Chengji, Spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said at a press conference on October 27 that there was no clear evidence to date indicating that the U.S.-led financial morass has had a direct impact on China's employment.

He pointed out that the government's target for new urban jobs this year was 10 million. By the end of September, about 9.36 million people had been newly employed in urban areas, accounting for 94 percent of the target. Meanwhile, about 8.3 million people had registered as unemployed in urban areas, about 50,000 less than the same period last year, while the country's unemployment rate was 4 percent.

Confronted with extreme employment pressure in the earthquake-stricken areas in Sichuan Province, the government explored employment opportunities for people there through cross-provincial employment assistance. By the end of September, more than 219,000 people in the quake-affected areas were reemployed in other provinces, and about 865,000 were reemployed locally.

Yin said these figures indicated that China's employment situation was relatively stable at present. Rapid economic development, active employment policies, optimized industrial structure, and the regional economic development strategies launched by the government had all contributed to stable employment, he said.

Possible future impact

Although the global financial crisis has had no direct impact on China's employment at present, it could affect employment in the future, Yin said. Judging from the current situation, some export-oriented enterprises have been experiencing financial difficulties and starting to lay off employees. Yin said the financial crisis might further lead to a global economic recession, which would pose daunting challenges to China's employment situation.