China's urban centers need to create 13 million new jobs a year, according to the Minister of Labor and Social Security Tian Chengping.

At least 24 million urban residents will be looking for jobs each year in the coming several years but there are likely to be only 11 million openings, said Tian, in an interview with the Study Times, a newspaper affiliated to the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Tian predicts that ten million new laborers will flock to urban areas every year.

The number of university and college graduates who cannot find jobs is also on steadily rising. Tian said 1.24 million university and college graduates who graduated this year did not have a job when they completed their studies.

Job security is being affected by the closure and bankruptcy of some state-owned enterprises (SOE). Tian said 3.5 million employees of the SOE could be laid off between 2006 and 2008.

He said the number of SOE employees dropped from 71 million to just over 40 million between 1998 to 2005.

More than 19 million laid-off SOE workers have been reemployed with many of them finding jobs in the private sector, he said.

Most of the urban unemployed are located in the underdeveloped western and central areas of the country. They are mostly in their40's and 50's and lack technical skills. Meanwhile many factories are in dire need of skilled workers.

To tackle the problems, the government plans to develop labor-intensive industries and sectors, such as the service industry, private sector and medium and small enterprises, Tian said.

The government will also expand occupational education to train more skilled workers and open more training classes to help the unemployed to start their own business.

The residency registration system is also expected to be reformed, to ensure the free flow of labor and provide equal employment services to local and rural laborers, said Tian.

(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2006)