China News Service, June 15 (Xinhua) On the 15th, Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, answered questions about the media's concern about the operation of the national economy in May. Fu Linghui said that the unemployment rate in the national urban survey in May fell slightly from April, but the employment pressure should not be ignored. The employment pressure of key groups such as college students is still great. With the concentration of college graduates into the labor market, the unemployment rate of college students may continue to rise.
Data Map: Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the first large-scale on-site job fair held concurrently by the Tibetan People's Social Agency has been conducted online and offline. China News Agency reporter He Penglei
Some questions pointed out that the unemployment rate in the national urban survey in May fell slightly compared with April. What are the reasons? What is the employment status of key groups such as college students? Can the goal of stable employment for the whole year be achieved?
Fu Linghui said that in May, the unemployment rate in the national urban survey was 5.9%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.
The main reason for the survey's unemployment rate decreased slightly from April: First, the economic operation has gradually improved. The continuous improvement in production demand has laid the foundation for the expansion of employment scale and the stability of employment. In May, the added value of the industrial enterprises above designated size increased for two consecutive months year-on-year, the production of the service industry turned from falling to rising, and the month-on-month decline in the total retail sales of social consumer goods and the cumulative decline in fixed asset investment both continued to narrow.
The second is the effectiveness of the employment priority policy. Persisting in reducing burdens, stabilizing jobs, and expanding employment simultaneously, we will focus on stabilizing enterprises to secure employment, grasp the employment of key groups such as college graduates and migrant workers, and encourage flexible employment through multiple channels, effectively guaranteeing the overall stability of employment.
The third is that the situation of employees returning to work continues to improve. A quick survey showed that the proportion of enterprises above designated size with an employee return rate of more than 80% increased by 1.2 percentage points from the last survey at the end of May and early June, of which the proportion of industrial and service enterprises increased by 0.6 and 1.7 percentage points respectively.
Fu Linghui pointed out that it must also be soberly aware that although the surveyed unemployment rate has dropped slightly, employment pressure cannot be ignored. First, there is greater pressure on total employment. Affected by the epidemic situation, the production and operation difficulties of enterprises are outstanding, and the demand for recruitment and employment has declined. Some individual industrial and commercial households and small and micro enterprises have recovered slowly after the epidemic, and employment absorption has been affected to a certain extent. From January to May, there were 4.6 million new jobs in cities and towns across the country, a year-on-year increase of 1.37 million. In May, the unemployment rate in the national urban survey was 0.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year.
The second is the phenomenon of insufficient employment. In May, about 1.2% of the employed people were in an unemployed state, which was higher than the normal level in previous years; the average weekly working hours of employees in enterprises decreased by 0.2 hours compared with the same period of the previous year.
Third, the employment pressure of key groups such as college students is still high. In May, the surveyed unemployment rate of college graduates aged 20-24 (mainly fresh graduates) nationwide rose 1.7 and 3.3 percentage points from the previous month and the same period of the previous year. The scale of college graduates this year reached 8.74 million, a record high. With the concentration of college graduates entering the labor market, the unemployment rate of college students may continue to rise.
"In the next stage, we must resolutely implement the decision-making deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, implement the employment priority policy more vigorously, strengthen the policy combination, strengthen policy coordination, broaden the employment channels of key groups, strengthen the guarantee of people's livelihood, and promote the stability of the employment situation. "Fu Linghui said.