(Yicai Global) March 15 -- The seasonal influence of China's New Year holiday has pushed the investigated urban unemployment rate to 5.3 percent, but this is still within the expected target of around 5.5 percent.

This was the aim identified in a government work report, the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics show.

China's economy remained within a reasonable range during January and last month and kept up its generally even, stable growth. Employment was also steady overall, Mao Shengyong, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics and head of the department of comprehensive statistics for the national economy, said at a press conference the Information Office of China's cabinet the State Council held yesterday.

A total of 1.74 million new job opportunities were added in Chinese cities and towns nationwide in January and February, and the investigated urban unemployment rate was 5.3 percent last month, lower than the expected approximately 5.5 percent, per the latest NBS data from.

The country's urban jobless rate has begun to rebound since the start of this year, rising from 4.9 percent in December to 5.0 percent in January and to 5.3 percent last month. This is also the maximum since 2018's officially released investigated urban unemployment rate.

The country started to publish the rate last year, which stayed between 4.8 to 5.1 percent each month during that time.

It rose by 0.2 percentage points on January's, mainly because many migrant workers returned to cities and towns for jobs after the New Year holiday, thus pushing the rate up, Mao noted, addressing last month's figures.

Steady Pressure

These undoubtedly reflect generally stable current employment, Li Chengwei, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, explained to Yicai Global, adding the slight climb in the number in recent months also means employment is still under very great pressure, though seasonal influences cannot be set aside.

Company demand for labor tends to be steady (firms have neither too great nor too little demand), and the overall job market is quite stable, though the growth rate is not as high as it once was. 

Local governments' stabilizing policies have played a significant role, Guo Sheng, the chief executive of Beijing-based online recruitment service provider Zhaopin, explained to Yicai Global.

Short-term fluctuations of some indexes should not be the sole focus, since economic, policy and even seasonal factors can all influence these, Mao said. 

A clear analysis of underlying impacting elements is necessary instead, with the best method to analyze over a longer period to more comprehensively and precisely understand the trends of index changes and the rules they obey, he advised.

Editor: Ben Armour