ATTEMPTS at understanding the true extent of unemployment in China has never been easy, primarily because nationwide figures are neither comprehensive nor readily available.
So how does one interpret the figures on urban unemployment released by the Chinese Ministry of Labour? The ministry predicted the number of urban unemployed would rise 19 per cent to five million this year because of market reforms amid moves to rein in the runaway economy.
Considering the size of the country's labour pool, five million does not seem an alarming figure.
But many believe that urban unemployment is more serious than the official figures suggest, primarily because China's yardstick for measuring unemployment differs from internationally accepted norms.
The picture is all the more alarming because the economy, which has grown at an average rate of nine per cent a year in the past 15 years, has actually created jobs which many of the unemployed workforce are ill-trained to take up.
On the surface, the country has a huge pool of cheap labour waiting to be tapped by investors. In reality, this massive resource pool is an illusion.