Job creation holds steady in first quarter

The pace of job creation remained steady in the first quarter, with about 3.24 million new positions - virtually flat year-on-year - the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced on Tuesday.

The ministry said the registered unemployment rate, based on unemployed workers who have registered with the ministry, stood at 3.67 percent in urban areas in the first quarter, a slight decrease of 0.22 percentage points. The urban surveyed unemployment rate, based on surveys from the national bureau of statistics, was 5.2 percent in March.

Also, the ministry granted subsidies of 1.17 billion yuan ($170 million) to 21,000 companies to help them stabilize the positions available to workers in the past three months, benefiting 2.83 million people.