Unemployment rate in Shanghai drops

There has been an annual increase of over 500,000 job positions in Shanghai and a continuous drop in the urban unemployment rate over the past three years, the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said on Wednesday.

According to the bureau, the city's unemployment rate had fallen to 3.6 percent as of the end of last year. The bureau noted that this was made possible through a series of initiatives introduced over the past seven years to help people, especially those aged under 35, secure jobs.

"Such endeavors have proven fruitful as the latest statistics show that the percentage of young people among the registered unemployed population has dropped from 30 percent in 2011 to slightly over 20 percent at present," said Zhang Lan, deputy head of the bureau.

Another factor is the assistance that the bureau has been providing people from low-income families to find jobs. According to the city's policies, the local government will ensure that at least one person from a low-income family lands a job within one month if his or her other family members are unemployed.

The bureau added that some 24,000 people from low-income families have found jobs in the first half of this year.

Zhi Yuan contributed to this story.