Chinanews, Beijing, October 24 – According to the information released at the press briefing of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, 4.95 million students have graduated from college this year, posing a very heavy placement problem in the already grim employment situation.

 

The employment rate of new college graduates has been around 70%-80% since 2001, somewhere near the rate in the US and Japan.

 

“China’s calculation of employment rate of new college graduates is not very accurate, as only those who have registered for permanent residence in the city where they work, signed labor contracts and have had their documents transferred from their colleges are taken into consideration. Thus China’s employment rate should be higher than what the statistics imply,” said Zhai Yanli, deputy director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.