China's urban unemployment for the third quarter went up slightly from the previous quarter. That's according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Urban unemployment rate was 4.05 percent at the end of the third quarter, slightly higher than 4.04 percent at the end of the previous quarter. That's still well below the annual target of less than 4.5 percent. The ministry says China's job market maintains relatively stable.
In the first nine months of this year, some 10.6 million jobs were created in Chinese cities, finishing the government's urban job creation target of 10 million ahead of time.
As the Chinese economy showed signs of a slowdown this year, rumours of massive lay-offs across companies have been circulating. The ministry said job cuts have indeed risen among certain enterprises, but in general the labor flow has been stable and there have been no signs of big lay-offs.
The official also briefed the public on progress made in China's health insurance system. The government's handling and coordination of healthcare has now basically moved from the local county level to city level. That means it would be easier for citizens to use their health insurance accounts across different city districts.
Officials also said China's pension funds will be ready for investments in stocks and equities in 2016. Around 2 trillion yuan of the fund's total assets can be invested in various products. China's pension funds, which account for 90 percent of the country's total social security fund pool, had net assets of 3.5 trillion yuan at the end of 2014.