China has succeeded in unemployment control while creating more job opportunities through continuous economic restructuring in the country's ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000).

Figures from the State Development Planning Commission show that more than 700 people had been employed at the end of 1999, 26 million more than in 1995, while those unemployed numbered 5.75 million, with the unemployment rate kept at 3.1 percent.

During the two years of 1998 and 1999, more than 11 million laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises were re-employed.

From 1996 to the end of 1999, the number of workers in the primary industry had reduced by 1.04 million, and those in the manufacturing industry and the service industries had increased significantly.

An increasing number of workers have shifted from state-owned and collectively-owned sectors to private firms. In 1999, there were 34 million people working for private firms, accounting for 16.5 percent of China's total working population.

(Xinhua 09/28/2000)