China banking on private entrepreneurship to drive job creation stabilise employment

BEIJING – China continues to face difficulties in stabilising its employment situation in an uncertain external environment, but will promote entrepreneurship to create jobs, a top Chinese official said on March 9.

As a record-high 12.22 million college graduates are expected to flood the job market in 2025, stabilising and expanding employment remains “an arduous task”, said Ms Wang Xiaoping, China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

Adding to the pressure is the need to provide stable employment for rural migrant workers and keep the number of people who have been lifted out of poverty and are now employed above 300 million, she said.

“The employment pressure remains high, structural contradictions have become more prominent, and people face challenges in increasing their income through employment,” Ms Wang said.

“At the same time, the external environment is increasingly complex and severe. The foundation for China’s sustained economic recovery and growth is still unstable, and this may have some impact on employment.”

Ms Wang spoke at a press conference held on the sidelines of the Two Sessions, China’s annual parliamentary meetings in Beijing, where thousands of delegates had gathered to discuss national policies.

She was accompanied by three other heads of Chinese ministries and agencies, who took questions from a roomful of domestic and international reporters on China’s plans to improve its citizens’ livelihood in 2025.

So far, the meetings at the Two Sessions have been dominated by the economy and China’s technological breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI). Geopolitical issues such as the escalating trade war between the US and China have also loomed large as each side has imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on goods from the other country.

China has been struggling with weak domestic consumption and persistently high levels of youth unemployment, as a prolonged property crisis has weighed heavily