Official warns of rising unemployment

The official number of urban unemployed is likely to climb to more than 20m in the next four years, said Wang Dongjin, vice minister of labour and social security. He predicted that 12m-13m new workers would enter the labour market annually in coming years, in addition to 5m workers laid off by stateowned enterprises and 6.8m registered jobless people at the end of 2001. He added that there were also 150m surplus rural labourers who are flooding the cities in search of work. “Only 8m jobs can be generated annually over this period, even with the country’s current [7 per cent] growth rate,” warned Wang.