China's job market generally stable in first 8 months

BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's job market has remained generally stable, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaging 5.2 percent in the first eight months of 2026, within the annual target, official data showed Tuesday.

A job seeker fills out the resume in front of a company's booth at a job fair in Jiangyin City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Aug. 25, 2026. (Photo: Xinhua)

The rate was unchanged from both the first seven months of the year and the same period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"Stable production has laid a solid foundation for stable employment. Enterprises' steady growth in production has helped stabilize labor demand," NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference.

"Meanwhile, the service sector has considerable capacity to absorb workers. Emerging service industries such as information services and software services have grown rapidly, making an important contribution to employment stability," Fu said.

In August alone, the surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from July. The NBS attributed the increase to seasonal factors.

China has set a target to keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate around 5.5 percent in 2026 and aims to create more than 12 million new urban jobs during the year.

To further boost employment, China issued a circular in August on optimizing community-level posts in urban and rural areas to recruit college graduates, aiming to build a strong talent pool to support the modernization of grassroots governance and capacity.

China released a five-year plan on human resources and social security development in July. Among other targets for the 2026-2030 period, the plan aims to help 25 million unemployed urban workers find new jobs and provide employment assistance to 6.5 million people having difficulty finding work.