(Yicai Global) June 11 -- China's unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent at the close of last year, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The number of workers across the country was 775.9 million at year-end, the ministry said yesterday. Of the total, 26.1 percent were in the primary sector, 27.6 percent in the secondary sector and 46.3 percent in tertiary industries.

There were 9.74 million workers without jobs. Urban unemployment reached 3.8 percent, while the rate in cities nationwide was 4.9 percent.

The combined income of China's three basic social insurance programs -- pension, unemployment and work-related injury -- gained 17.5 percent from a year earlier to CNY5.7 trillion (USD826 billion), while total outlays from these funds climbed 17.2 percent to CNY4.9 trillion.

On July 1 last year, the government put in place a central adjustment system for basic endowment insurance funds for company employees. Last year's rate was 3 percent and total funds stood at CNY242.2 billion (USD35 billion).

The number of people with social security cards was about 1.23 billion, representing around 88 percent of the country's workforce.