Employment growth in China's urban areas slowed in the first quarter of 2015 for the first time since the global financial crisis, the government said today.
From January to March, China's employed urban population grew by 3.24 million, which is 200,000 less than the same period last year, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) spokesperson Li Zhong said without providing specific reasons for the drop.
Qiu Dongyang, professor at Chongqing University of Technology, attributed the slowdown to the slower economic expansion seen in the first quarter.
First quarter's growth slowed to 7 per cent from the previous quarter's 7.3 per cent. It was the weakest performance since the global financial crisis, when growth fell to 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009.
China's manufacturing industry, which used to be labour-intensive, is promoting mechanisation and reducing employee recruitment, putting pressure on urban employment growth in the short term, said Qiu.
Industrial output growth slowed to 6.4 per cent year-on-year in the January-March period from 8.7 per cent growth a year ago.
Although the "Internet Plus" action plan unveiled by Premier Li Keqiang during the parliamentary sessions in March is considered a new engine for future sustainable growth, it is not enough to offset the negative effects brought about by the slowing economy, Qiu said.
The "Internet Plus" plan aims to integrate mobile Internet, cloud computing, big data and the 'Internet of Things' with modern manufacturing.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator or other connected devices.
Overall, China's labour market is "stable" due to its large population, and a decrease of 200,000 new jobs cannot disturb the huge market, said Chen Yu, deputy head of the China Association for Employment Promotion.
Traditional statistical approaches might fail to count newly-added jobs resulting from entrepreneurship and innovation industries, which the central government has encouraged to boost market vitality, Chen said.
By the end of March, China's registered urban unemployment rate stood at 4.05 per cent, lower than the 4.09 per cent logged for the whole of 2014 and the 4.08 per cent registered in the first quarter of last year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
