The Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau said yesterday the improvement resulted from the city government's various effective job-creating measures.

The number of registered unemployed people at the end of June was 277,000, compared with 303,000 in January, the bureau said.

It said 83,000 locals lost their jobs from April to July, but 96,000 jobless were employed in the same period.

The average unemployment period was reported to be 13.5 months at the end of last month, two months less than the figure in March.

"The drop indicated the various job-creating measures taken by the city government did work in the first seven months this year, which gives us an optimistic outlook for controlling unemployment," said Sheng Zuhuan, deputy director at the bureau's employment division.

The city government promised to create 500,000 new job opportunities this year by providing government-subsidized jobs for middle-aged laid-off workers and surplus labor forces in rural areas.

Local unemployed were also encouraged to start their own businesses with up to 70,000 yuan (US$8,434) interest-free loans granted by the government.

Sheng said the city's goal set in January to control the registered unemployment rate within 4.6 percent this year was sure to be fulfilled.

"But the unemployment issue is still prominent and hard to solve because of the large number of long-term unemployed," he said.

Among the total unemployed population, more than 56 percent or 156,000 people were male, while the percentage for females was 12 percent less.

Most local women losing their jobs were reported to have found a new job within 13 months, compared with 14 months for men.

More than 92 percent of the registered jobless were people without a college education.

People aged over 45 were also the largest jobless group among locals, accounting for 36 percent of the unemployment population, the bureau said.

(Shanghai Daily August 26, 2004)