BEIJING, March 19 (Reuters) – China is launching an annual recruitment of college graduates in large and midsize cities, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, as authorities double down on efforts to meet a more ambitious job creation goal this year.

The recruitment drive, hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, will last from Sunday to May 26, Xinhua said.

China aims to create around 12 million urban jobs this year, up from the 2022 target of at least 11 million. The government aims to keep survey-based jobless rate of around 5.5% this year.

The new premier, Li Qiang, said last week that “developing the economy is the fundamental solution for creating jobs,” and the government will continue to pursue an “employment-first” strategy.

During the first 10 days of the recruitment drive, 19 offline job fairs, eight cross-region job fairs and job fairs featuring sectors such as manufacturing, medicine and health, Internet and electricity and new energy will be hosted, Xinhua said.

While number of college graduates in China will reach a record 11.58 million this year, job seekers expect more job opportunities, more reasonable pay and more reliable social security, human resources minister Wang Xiaoping said this month.

China’s survey-based jobless rate was 5.6% in February, but for 16-24 years old it was 18.1%, National Bureau of Statistics data showed. A rise in the jobless rate in February was due to seasonal factors, the bureau said.

Reporting by Judy Hua and Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard

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