Surveyed unemployment rate long overdue

THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS will release a surveyed unemployment rate next year, Sheng Laiyun, the bureau's chief economist, told Xinhua News Agency recently. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Wednesday:

The human resources and social security authorities have published the registered unemployment rate in cities since the planned economy era, when it was difficult for farmers to move to cities.

The registered unemployment rate should have been replaced a long time ago by the more objective surveyed unemployment rate, since it is estimated that about 300 million migrant workers live and work in cities nowadays.