China News Service, August 16th, National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui said at a press conference held on the 16th that the employment situation has remained generally stable since the beginning of this year.

With the economic recovery and the implementation of the employment priority policy, the overall unemployment rate surveyed in cities and towns across the country has dropped.

He also said that the employment priority policy has continued to be effective.

　　At the meeting, a reporter asked, what impact will recent policies on the education industry have on employment, especially graduate employment?

What is the impact of the recent outbreak on consumption?

　　Fu Linghui pointed out that the employment situation has remained generally stable since the beginning of this year.

With the economic recovery and the implementation of the employment priority policy, the overall unemployment rate surveyed in cities and towns across the country has dropped.

In general, the employment situation presents the following characteristics:

　　One is the continued expansion of new employment.

From January to July, the number of new jobs in cities and towns across the country reached 8.22 million, achieving 74.7% of the annual target and task.

　　Second, the unemployment rate is generally stable.

In July, the nationwide surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.1%, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.

5.1% is not only lower than the level of the same period last year, but also lower than the level of the same period in 2019.

In July, due to the concentration of college graduates entering the labor market, the unemployment rate will generally rise relatively sharply from June to July.

But this year, comparing July to June, the increase in unemployment rate was lower than the level before the epidemic, indicating that the overall employment situation has remained stable.

Among them, the unemployment rate of the 25-59 year old employment population is 4.2%, which is the same as last month.

　　Third, the employment of migrant workers remained generally stable.

In the second quarter, the total number of migrant workers was 180 million, basically returning to the level before the epidemic.

In July, the unemployment rate of the migrant population was 5.0%, which was lower than the previous month's level.

　　Fu Linghui emphasized that the main reasons for the overall recovery of employment are the following factors:

　　One is the gradual recovery of the economy and the increase in labor demand.

In the second quarter, GDP grew by an average of 5.5% in two years, 0.5 percentage points faster than in the first quarter.

　　Second, new drivers are growing and flexible employment is increasing.

With the rapid development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship, the rapid growth of the sharing economy and platform economy, new business models and new models continue to emerge, and the employment-driven effect is increasing.

Flexible employment positions such as courier brothers, live webcasts, and online ride-hailing drivers are increasing.

　　Third, the employment priority policy has continued to be effective.

Continue to reduce the burden of enterprises, stabilize jobs and expand employment, implement the employment and entrepreneurship promotion plan for college graduates, orderly guide migrant workers to go out for employment, and improve the protection of the rights and interests of flexible employees. The above measures are all conducive to promoting employment stability.

　　Fu Linghui said that with regard to the impact of policies on youth employment, because the unemployment rate statistics system has not been established for a long time, it cannot accurately reflect the impact of specific policies on specific industries and specific groups.

　　In response to the impact of the recent epidemic on consumption, Fu Linghui pointed out that from the perspective of consumption, consumption has maintained a steady recovery this year as a whole.

In July, due to heavy rainfall in some areas and the spread of epidemics in some places, the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods and the two-year average growth rate both fell from the previous month.

From a cumulative point of view, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by an average of 4.3% in two years, basically the same as last month.

Looking at the general characteristics of consumption:

　　First, most commodity categories have maintained growth.

From January to July, among the retail sales of commodities above designated size, the retail sales of 18 categories of commodities achieved an average growth in two years, and the average growth rate of 9 categories of commodities exceeded 10% in two years.

　　The second is the rapid growth of basic lifestyle and upgraded commodities.

From January to July, the basic daily necessities of grain, oil, food, and daily necessities increased by 11.3% and 13.2% respectively in two years.

Upgraded gold, silver, jewellery and sports and entertainment products have an average growth rate of 10.6% and 18.4% respectively in two years.

　　Third, the growth of online retail is stable.

From January to July, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by an average of 16.7% in two years, 0.2% faster than the first half of the year.

　　Fu Linghui emphasized that, in general, due to short-term factors, market sales have slowed down, but consumption recovery is expected to continue.

With the continuous expansion of vaccination and the effective implementation of precise prevention and control, the consumer market is expected to maintain overall stability.

It should also be noted that the expansion of employment and the increase in residents' income are also conducive to the improvement of consumption capacity, and consumption can generally maintain a stable recovery trend.