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Job market will be bleak in 2012, ministry warns

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Beijing yesterday issued stern warnings on the bleak job market outlook for this year, with an estimated 25 million urban job seekers entering the labour market and employers having trouble getting staff with the right skills.

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About 6.8 million university and college graduates would enter the job market this year - more than six times as many as a decade ago, Yin Chengji, a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said yesterday.

Structural unemployment - a mismatch between demand and available skills - would worsen, Yin warned.

'Difficulties for employers seeking staff and workers seeking employment happen at the same time, and there is now not only a shortage of skilled workers but also a shortage of ordinary workers,' he said. 'We believe this situation has become the norm and the problem is spreading from the coast to inland.'

Yin said Beijing was keenly aware of the bleak international economic outlook and the impact it would have on domestic employment.

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With the help of domestic economic growth and government aid, the ministry will aim to boost employment to 'maintain the basic stability of the national employment situation'.

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