About 20 percent of university students in China, who graduated in 2007, have so far failed to find jobs, according to a blue paper issued by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Nearly five million university students graduated in 2007, but one million of them have still not found jobs, according to the blue paper released earlier this month.

"This is not because China's policy to expand university enrollment has resulted in labor supply outweighing demand on the labor market," Yang Weiguo, associate professor of Beijing-based Renmin University said.

"In fact, the gap between supply and demand reaches 13 to 14 million people annually in recent years," said Yang, also the deputy director of the Employment Research Institute of Renmin University.

Only 270,000 students were admitted to study in universities when China resumed its university entrance exams in 1977. Thirty years later, the number of undergraduates and postgraduates surged to 5.7 million and 424,000 respectively.

However, official statistics show only five percent of China's total population have the opportunity to receive higher education.

"One of the reasons for the difficulty in university graduates finding employment is that they are unable to satisfy the needs of employers," he said.

"The other reason is that university graduates are unwilling to go to backward or remote areas, yet are unable to find jobs in metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai," he said.

He said the universities needed to adjust their teaching methods and content quickly to conform to social development and demand.

He also called on the social security, educational and personnel departments to adopt more favorable policies or offer subsidies for university graduates working in relatively backward regions.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)