Most Chinese young people hope to work in the government departments and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), said a research report on China's youth employment released Friday.

The survey, the first of its kind in China, was jointly carried out by the Youth Employment Network (YEN) Office China, the Research Institute of Labor Sciences with the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MOLSS) with the help of the International Labor Office (ILO) between Jan. 24 to March 4 this year.

The report, titled China's Survey on School to Work Transition, sampled 7,000 young people aged between 15-29 and 220 employers in four cities of Dalian, Tianjin, Changsha and Liuzhou from the country's north to south.

The report noted that 21 percent of the respondents think that the most ideal job is in the government or public sector, 22 percent favor SOEs most, while 20 percent prefer to starting their own business.

In addition, those who want to work in the private economy or multinational corporations only account for 10 percent and 9 percent.

"This trend reflects that the young people in China wish to have a stable work, which is just what the comparative advantage of government departments and SOEs have," said Wu Qing, associate professor of the China Youth University for Political Sciences in Beijing.

The report meanwhile showed that most employed young people, or 41 percent of the respondents, are satisfied with their present work and have no intention to change.

As for what industry the Chinese young people like best, the 21 ercent of the respondents said it's communication, computer services and software, and the industry of finance comes second, with 12 percent.

"These industries are new and developing industries that can provide more job opportunities, while young people are willing to choose these areas for their study and training," the report said. The report also noted that China is burdened with youth employment and attributed this to the huge population base, which was particularly augmented by the two baby booms in the 1950s and 60s.

Each year, the pool of new laborers increases by 20 million, but due to limitations in educational capacity, those who actually need employment is between 10 to 16 million, the report said. On the other hand, as young people lack work experience, they are not favored in the labor market.

"With the background that supply exceeds demand, the problem of youth employment is becoming more and more serious, and the unemployment rate is going higher than the average level," the report acknowledged.

In 2003, China had an employment population of 744.32 million and a registered unemployed population in cities of 7.8 million, with the registered unemployment rate being 4.2 percent. However, the report estimated the real unemployment rate may stand at 6.1 percent, of which the estimated unemployment rate of the young people is 7.4 percent.

According to data from a nationwide sample survey of population changes, China's total population was 1.26 billion at the end of 2002, including 283 million young people aged between 15 and 29, representing 23.3 percent of the total population.

The report said that unemployment exists in all age groups and all education levels in the youth population, and more than 60 percent of the unemployed agree that a low education level is one of the main causes for their unemployment.

"Unemployed young people may easily be treated as an disadvantageous group by the society, we should help them get employed through efforts like offering professional skills training or financial support to help them start their own business," said Dr. Xu Qinghong, director of the Employment Center of elite Tsinghua University in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2005)