Availability of Labour Market

General workforce:

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly conduct an annual market survey, with the sample selected from more than 50 cities. This survey provides a summary of the labour market and macro statistics on China’s technology gaps and needs to guide national planning.

Technical workers:

Annual research on the number of workers (including senior and junior levels) conducted by MHRSS gives an insight into employment supply and demand across sectors, including specific skills. The report serves as a reference on employment needs for employers and agencies.

Demographics – age groups:

Of a total national population of 1,188,739,000, the under-15 age-group accounts for 212,476,000 (17.9% of the total), the 15-64 age-group 865,052,000 (72.8%), and the over-65 age-group 111,212,000 (9.4%).
Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2008

This data comes from the 2007 National Sample Survey on Population Changes. The sampling fraction is 0.09 per cent. Population calculations are usually based on the age groups of 0-14 years, 15-64 years and over 65 only in China.

National Employment Statistics:

	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Total number of employed persons (million )	744.32	752	758.25	764.4	769.90
Employment rate	97.84%	97.89%	97.40%	97.64%	97.90%
Registered unemployment rate (urban areas only)	4.3%	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	4.0%
Primary industry	36.55	35.27	33.97	32.56	31.44
Secondary industry	16.08	16.92	18.08	19.23	20.63
Tertiary industry	21.81	23.01	23.77	24.61	24.92
Composition of Employed Persons
Primary industry	49.1%	46.9%	44.8%	42.6%	40.8%
Secondary industry	21.6%	22.5%	23.8%	25.2%	26.8%
Tertiary industry	29.3%	30.6%	31.4%	32.2%	32.4%

Educational Levels – by percentage:

	Population aged six and over	Male	Female	No schooling	Male	Female	Primary school	Male	Female
National total	1116037	562664	553373	89448	24528	64920	354873	169833	185041
	100%	50.42%	49.58%	8.01%	2.20%	5.81%	31.8%	15.22%	16.58%

	Junior secondary school	Male	Female	Senior secondary school	Male	Female	College and higher level	Male	Female
National total	448897	242231	206667	149635	85386	64249	73184	40687	32497
	40.22%	21.7%	18.52%	13.41%	7.65%	5.76%	6.56%	3.65%	2.91%