BEIJING - A total of 57 million jobs will have been created in China's urban areas over the 2006-2010 period, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) Yin Weimin said Thursday.

Annual employment for the period will be 11.4 million, or 2.1 million more than China's 10th Five-year Program (2001-2005) period, said Yin while addressing a national human resources and social security work conference.

Yin said the unemployment rate had remained under 4.3 percent throughout the period, while nearly 45 million underemployed rural workers had taken up new jobs in the non-agricultural sectors, 5 million more than the 2001-2005 period.

The Employment Promotion Law of 2007 as well as measures introduced after several natural disasters and the global financial crisis had boosted employment, Yin said.

Also, a system providing vocational training and employment services was taking shape, he said.

About 86 million people received special vocational training and 330 million people used government employment services during the period, he added.

source:Xinhua