China reports over 3m new urban jobs in Q1

China has seen a stable growth in employment in the first quarter of 2025 with 3.08 million new jobs created in urban areas nationwide, an increase of 50,000 jobs compared to the same period last year.

The encouraging figures were released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Monday.

Vice-minister Yu Jiadong of the human resources and social security ministry said at a news conference that the nation, however, still faces increasing pressure of stabilizing employment, as hefty US tariffs pose challenges on some Chinese foreign trade companies, resulting in knock-on effects on employees.

He said the government will continue to support companies and individuals with financial policies, especially enterprises bearing greater impact from high US tariffs.

"The loan limit to small and medium-sized companies has been raised to 50 million yuan ($6.85 million) at most and individuals 10 million yuan at most," he said. The loan is specifically used to stabilize job positions or job creation.

He added that the ministry, together with the Ministry of Finance, has recently granted a subsidy totaling 66.7 billion yuan for employment promotion.

The central government will continue to release more new supportive policies to stabilize and promote employment this year, based on the scientific and reasonable analysis of the domestic job market, Yu said.