Economist Welcomes China's Target On Job Creation

BY NG CHE YEAN BEIJING, March 8 (Bernama)-- Malaysian economist Dr. Jomo Kwame Sundram has welcomed the Chinese government's target to create more than nine million job opportunities this year. He said other countries should put the same efforts towards creating jobs. Jomo, who is assistant secretary-general for Economic Development at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, said this in an interview when commenting on China's latest employment policy. "As we are now in the situation where the unemployment levels are high, and unfortunately are still growing in most countries, this (creating jobs) is something that other countries can learn from," he added. China has put employment as its top priority, including creating more than nine millions jobs opportunities and this supporting new service industries, innovative high-tech enterprises, and small and micro businesses that employ large numbers of people. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told this to the fifth session of China's 11th National People's Congress which opened Monday. According to the Premier's government work report, a total of 12.21 million new urban jobs were created in 2011, and China will keep this year's registered urban unemployment rate at or below 4.6 percent. -- BERNAMA