China's urban jobless could hit 10m

China could have 10 million jobless urbanites by 2010, state media reported quoting a new report from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The country's labour supply is expected to top 830 million by 2010 but only 40 million new jobs will be created during the period. The official jobless rate was 4.2% at the end of 2005 and the ministry wants to keep it below 5%. Millions of jobs are also needed to accommodate some 45 million rural migrant workers who have been encouraged to leave the countryside to relief a labour surplus. The government estimates there are about 150 million migrant workers, almost 11.5% of the population and nearly double the number from a decade ago.