More graduates are finding work

A total of 138,000 local students who graduated from college and university last year had landed jobs by the end of December, putting the city's college graduates' employment rate at 97.25 percent for 2007, the Shanghai Education Commission announced yesterday.

The employment rate is slightly higher than in 2006 with 16,000 more people finding jobs in 2007.

However, the commission also revealed that more than 2,000 of last year's graduates had registered as unemployed at the city's labor and social security departments after they failed to find work.

"Although the city's employment rate remains at a high level in recent years, the growing number of graduates does pose challenges for all job placement officials at both city government and university level," said Shen Xiaoming, the commission director.

The city had 143,000 college graduates last year, 11 percent higher than in 2006. The figure is expected to rise to 149,000 people this year.

While most graduates managed to find a job in local companies or social institutes, nearly 1,500 applied to work at grassroots level government departments in the city's suburban areas, commission officials said.

Some 191 graduates were sent to work as teachers, doctors or assistant government officials in the country's underdeveloped western regions for one or two years.

More than 200 graduates managed to start up their own businesses, with a registered capital amount exceeding 102 million yuan (US$13.97 million), according to the Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation for Graduates.

"Shanghai is still facing a dilemma of an unbalanced employment structure and a low percentage of entrepreneurs among young people," said Yang Dinghua, the vice mayor who oversees the city's education issues.

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