Editor's note: Guo Yu is a professor of National Academy of Development and Strategy, Renmin University of China, and professor of Academy of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Renmin University of China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Employment is the most basic component of the people's wellbeing. It is also the cause and effect of economic growth. In the face of multiple factors such as slowing growth, the COVID-19 pandemic and a complex and volatile external environment, China's employment situation remained generally stable in 2022. The employment of key groups was basically secured, and 12.06 million new jobs were created, surpassing the annual target of 11 million.

After the Spring Festival, as consumption, investment and employment continued to rebound, the labor market showed a boom in both supply and demand. The primary reason for that was that the basic trend of steady long-term growth for China's economy remained unchanged, and the economy will maintain medium- to high-speed growth over a relatively long period. With the implementation of additional measures to stabilize the economy, sustained economic recovery continues to drive the expansion of employment demand. The optimization of pandemic prevention controls and the recovery of service industries such as hotels, catering and tourism are conducive to giving full play to the advantages of the sector in absorbing a large number of jobs.

The government will also provide a supportive environment so that job growth can occur and may also use expansive monetary and fiscal policies to stimulate job growth. Officials will take into account such factors as the domestic and international situation, the effect of policy implementation, the needs of market entities and the operation of funds. They will also optimize various policies to help benefit enterprises according to the situation, and support efforts to develop and stabilize employment more effectively.

Economic growth and structural transformation alone do not necessarily translate into more and better jobs, especially for those vulnerable groups. Guided by the employment priority strategy, a series of active labor market policies are playing a remarkable role in employment promotion. For example, many provinces arranged special trains for migrant workers returning to their hometowns and back during the Spring Festival. The Spring Breeze initiative was launched in early January and aims to offer people employment opportunities through job fairs across provinces. The effort is expected to generate 30 million new jobs nationwide through the end of March. Furthermore, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will offer a series of "10+N" public employment service activities each month this year. The effort targets college graduates, migrant workers, the young and old and other groups that face difficulties finding jobs.

In particular, the government has put the promotion of the employment of young people, especially college graduates, in a more prominent position. It has also strengthened the protection of the rights and interests of workers in new forms of jobs, providing a strong guarantee for employment stability.

Due to socio-economic development and changes in China's population structure, the gradual extension of the statutory retirement age policy is expected to be introduced. The change will impact the labor market in the medium and long terms but the short-term impact will remain marginal.

Although there are many favorable conditions for maintaining stable employment in the next stage, unemployment and structural labor shortages coexist, and some of the problems are even prominent.

The stability of the economy rests on the ability to maintain a low unemployment rate. Therefore, cautious optimism is needed when we look at the labor market. On the one hand, small and medium-sized enterprises with weak anti-risk ability have not yet fully recovered from the impact of the pandemic. Willingness to increase investment and expand jobs is insufficient, and the demand for labor has not increased rapidly in the short term.

On the other hand, structural labor shortages still exist, and the "dilemma" of recruitment and insufficient employment coexist. The difficulty of recruiting people in some industries is particularly problematic, notably in the insufficient supply of housekeepers, electricians and plumbers.

In particular, youth employment will still face severe challenges in 2023 and beyond, as the scale of college graduates in China is expected to exceed 11.5 million in 2023. More than 200 million flexible employment groups urgently need to improve employment quality and social security.