Speaking at a meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, Premier Li Qiang called for stronger employment policies, ranging from skills training and job creation to jobs-related financial support.

Li, who will release China’s 2025 job creation and unemployment control targets in early March, ordered government agencies and local authorities to create more jobs in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, services and consumption.

Efforts would also be made to increase the credit limit for special loans aimed at boosting employment, and launch large-scale vocational training programmes, he added during the meeting on Friday.

China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.1 per cent last year, down 0.1 percentage points from 2023, according to official data.