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Unemployment rate down 1.48% in Beijing
By Li Jing (Beijing)
Updated: 2004-04-13 00:05 Beijing's unemployment woes have eased slightly in
the first quarter of the year, thanks to the city's blistering economic
momentum, according to municipal economic figures.
The growth rate of the city's gross domestic product (GDP) between January
and March reached the highest point in the past decade -- 13.8 per cent, said Yu
Xiuqin, bureau spokeswoman.
The registered unemployment rate in urban areas was 1.48 per cent by the end
of last month,0.01 percentage point down from the same period last year, said
Yu.
Meanwhile, driven by the economic boom, more than 35 per cent of those out of
work found new jobs in the first quarter, or a 0.35 percentage point jump
year-on-year, said Yu.
According to a recent survey conducted by the bureau among unemployed people,
nearly 56 per cent of respondents indicated they were discharged less than a
year before.
Around 58 per cent reported having no social security insurance and 60 per
cent said they were keen on finding a new job.
"The municipal government aims to curb the unemployment rate to just 2.5 per
cent this year," said Yu. "The current unemployment situation is at a moderate
level and taking a turn for the better."
She estimates the economic growth of Beijing will speed up in the next four
to six months, which will do nothing but help create more job opportunities.
"If everything goes smoothly, the city's GDP will enjoy double-digit growth
this year," said Yu.
At Monday's news briefing by the bureau, the spokeswoman summarized the
impact of bird flu on Beijing's job market in the past few months.
She said sales of poultry plummeted 56.4 per cent in February when the
epidemic was at its peak in China, and restaurants mainly serving chicken and
duck meals suffered mightily.
"But these sectors almost recovered completely by the end of last month and
the market now has returned to normal," said Yu.
However, she noted that the city's tourism industry, which felt the brunt of
the damage caused by SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) last year, has
still been sluggish due to the follow-on of avian influenza.
Statistics show that the capital city received 1.85 million overseas tourists
last year, a drop of 40.4 per cent from 2002.
"Although the inbound tourism recovered to a normal level starting last
November, the industry was again beat to a bottom in the first quarter," said
Yu.
The number of overseas tourists dropped 12.4 per cent between January and
last month compared with the same period last year.
The spokeswoman also expressed concern over the agriculture sector, whose
added value dropped 1.7 per cent in the past quarter, the first downward trend
since 1998.
She said price hikes for food nationwide since late last year failed to bring
much income to farmers in Beijing, because the cash gained from agriculture only
accounts for less than 10 per cent of the total income for rural residents.
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