(Yicai Global) Jan. 19 -- The surveyed unemployment rate in urban Chinese areas was less than 5 percent last month, but a less rosy employment situation at micro-enterprises and small businesses is worthy of attention, experts said.

Mass innovation and entrepreneurship and reforms drove development last year, when an average of 16,600 new enterprises registered per day, supporting employment. Companies created more than 13 million new urban jobs last year, National Bureau of Statistics Director Ning Jizhe said yesterday.

The NBS plans to release the official urban unemployment rate later this year, he said.

The employment situation in China has improved, but the structural contradiction remains prominent, China Institute for Employment Research Director Zeng Xiangquan told Yicai Global. The employment prosperity of micro-enterprises and small firms has declined since last year, said Zeng.

Employment cultivated by entrepreneurship is crucial in China, and most start-ups are micro-enterprises and small firms, thus the impact of slack recruitment of these businesses on employment should be noticed, Zeng said.

While eastern, middle and western regions in China witnessed an increase in labor demand, northeastern region continued to face employment-related challenges. Last quarter's recruitment demand marked a 9.6 percent decline from the previous period, while the number of applicants rose 3.4 percent.