The 10 million additional urbanites who will enter the labour market, undoubtedly finding it hard to secure a job, by 2010 will put more strain on the nation.

By the end of this decade, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) predicts, the employment situation will remain serious and the pro-active labour policy will have to continue.

This year's job gap is between 12-14 million, according to experts and labour officials. The latest figures released by the NDRC mean that we may face much more pressure within five years.

Creating jobs has been the paramount task of the government in recent years. But as the economy steams ahead, the pressure is easing, statistics show. Last year, experts estimate, the job gap was about 16 million.

As labour shortages emerged, surprisingly, in some southern cities last year, some experts are now worrying that the country will suffer from an inadequate labour supply in the future.

Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs analyses echo that worry, suggesting China's workforce may begin to shrink sooner than expected. A United Nations analysis points to a decline in the percentage of working-age Chinese from 72.2 per cent in 2010, the peak, to just 60.7 per cent by 2050.

It seems the new demographic deficit will greatly ease the shortage of jobs, but in the mean time, experts warned, it will drain China's competitiveness in drawing in foreign investors and worsen the pressure on the pension system.

The trend is a real long-term challenge.

But a more pressing issue is still the shortage of jobs.

The government has tried its utmost to churn out more jobs as the economy expands. A series of favourable policies in different regions have been implemented and more are in the pipeline.

The social security network is improving, taking more residents into the system.

More fundamental solutions lie in promoting private sector small businesses and service industries, which have proved to be able to provide more jobs. They are not only more dynamic, which is good for the national economy, but more labour-intensive.

More attention should also be paid to micro-credit schemes, which have been called for for years but seldom seriously implemented. Small businesses would benefit greatly from such schemes, repaying society by generating jobs.

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