China Daily Global Edition (USA)
JOBLESS RATE 5.17% IN MARCH, SURVEY SAYS
China’s polled unemployment rate in March was 5.17 percent, slightly lower than in February, said Li Pumin, secretarygeneral of the National Development andReform Commission, onWednesday.
Itwas the first reference to the jobless rate since Premier LiKeqiang mentioned aluminum, and shipbuilding.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, industrial output expanded 8.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, a five-year low. The rate was 9.5 percent in the same period of 2013.
GDP growth slowed to 7.4 percent in the first quarter from 7.7 percent in the last three months of 2013 and 7.8 percent in the third quarter.
The State Council, the cabinet, announced steps to boost growth and employment after the release of the first-quarter GDP data.
“The measures may
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help it in an article in the Financial Times in September.
Traditionally, the government publicizes the urban registered unemployment rate. That number has long been criticized as a biased and deflated one. It also has rarely changed, staying at about 4.1 percent since 2010. growth at the margin but are probably not enough to put the economy into higher gear,” said Julia Wang, an economist at HSBC.
“Current growth momentum implies a GDP growth rate of less than 7 percent in the second quarter. A slowdown on both the domestic and external fronts adds to the need for more policy support, particularly as the employment sub-index suggests increasing pressure on the labor market.
“We expect more measures to be unveiled over the course of the next few months and the central
As an alternative, the government has administered a monthly survey in 65 major cities. The number is currently available only to policymakers and has not been made public.
Premier Li said in September that China’s polled unemployment ratewas 5 percent for the first half of 2013. Li Pumin did not bank is expected to keep monetary policy accommodative,” she added.
“China’s economy is still likely to slow further this quarter, but the slowdown appears to be moderating, helped in part by the government’s move to support growth with spending on railways and social housing,’’ said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics Ltd in Singapore.
JPMorgan Chase & Co’s chief economist for China, Zhu Haibin, said: “The outlook for gradual, moderate improvement going ahead is elaborate on what the numberwas in February this year.
Citing the lowunemployment and moderate inflation rates, Li Pumin said the economy is stable and healthy. As a result, the government does not foresee having to roll out stimulusmeasures. built on the expectations of moderate improvement in external demand, as well as some pickup in infrastructure investment as the recent moderate pro-growth measures take root.”
He said he doesn’t expect the People’s Bank of China to cut the overall reserve requirement ratio for banks in the near term as a progrowth measure. Contact the writers at chenjia1@chinadaily.com.cn and gaoyuan@chinadaily.
AP contributed to this story.