This Day, That Year

Item from Jan 10, 1985, in China Daily: The number of jobless youths in Beijing plummeted from 400,000 in 1979 to about 20,000 at the end of 1984, according to a spokesman at the city’s Labor Bureau.

About 18,000 of the unemployed youths are enrolled in self-study courses to prepare for college entrance exams or employment tests. …

Last year, more than 230,000 students graduated from colleges in Beijing. More than 60 percent of them joined private enterprises while the rest became public servants or were hired by government institutes. The employment rate in the capital was 97 percent.

Last year, China created more than 13 million new jobs in cities as part of government efforts to stabilize a slowing economy, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Experts believe that the stable employment rate helped maintain social harmony.

Despite the economic slowdown, the government has managed to keep urban unemployment rate low.

Officials have indicated that creating more jobs will remain a top priority for the government this year.

Across China, nearly 8 million college students are expected to graduate this year.

A recent study by human resources website zhaopin.com found that people born in the 1990s are more likely to embrace the possibility of starting their own businesses, compared with people born in the 1970s and 1980s, who preferred stable jobs.