China's employment figures stable, 10.22 mln new urban jobs added in Jan.-Sept.

BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's job market remained generally stable, with 10.22 million new urban jobs having been added in the first nine months of 2023, data showed Thursday.

China set an annual target of creating 12 million new urban jobs for the full year in 2023.

In September, the country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 percent, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. China aims to keep the surveyed urban jobless rate at around 5.5 percent this year.

"The employment situation has remained generally stable," Chen Feng, the ministry's spokesperson, told a press conference, adding that all employment indicators are within expectations.

Chen said the government has stepped up efforts in prioritizing work to stabilize and expand employment, with concrete measures including offering vocational training, improving services and providing subsidies for companies to create jobs.

In the first nine months of this year, some 80.9 billion yuan (about 11.27 billion U.S. dollars) was provided in subsidies to boost employment, according to Chen.