China’s Job Market Maintains Stability in Q1 2026 with Structural Optimization

A sound start to China’s economy in the first quarter of 2026 has laid a solid foundation for the job market. Data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security shows that 2.99 million new urban jobs were created nationwide in the first quarter, with the average urban surveyed unemployment rate standing at 5.3%, indicating an overall stable employment situation.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security reports that the average urban surveyed unemployment rate remained unchanged from the same period last year and stayed below the annual control target of 5.5%, demonstrating the robust foundation of the job market. The stable employment situation is closely linked to economic transformation and upgrading, as China’s economy made a strong start with major economic indicators exceeding expectations in the first quarter.

Under this backdrop, the continuous expansion of the service sector has provided new growth points for employment, while high-end manufacturing and other fields have absorbed a large number of technical laborers, steadily improving employment quality and forming a virtuous cycle of “stable economic growth driving stable employment improvement”.

58 Tongcheng data shows that among the 15 most active job recruitment positions of enterprises nationwide in the first quarter, waiters, general workers/operators and sales specialists ranked the top three. Positions such as shop assistants, beauticians, clerks and food delivery riders were also in strong demand, covering living services, manufacturing and retail sectors. The booming supply and demand of these positions is driven by the continuous upgrading of service consumption.

The prosperous recruitment situation is supported by macro policies. In early March, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a notice, focusing on advanced manufacturing and modern service industries to explore more jobs suitable for college graduates and other young people. A series of policy measures have been implemented to smooth urban and rural employment channels.

Niu Zhiwei, Dean of the School of Economics at Zhejiang Gongshang University, said, “Policy support has significantly improved the labor productivity and income of the groups assisted, with more obvious effects on low-education and middle-aged and elderly groups. The slight decrease in labor supply time stems from the shift from inefficient to efficient work types, reflecting improved employment quality.”

With the accelerated growth of new quality productive forces, the job market is undergoing structural optimization. In March, the number of fresh graduate positions in the new materials industry increased by 70.7% year-on-year, far higher than the industry’s overall growth rate of 32.6%. Industries such as industrial automation and aerospace also saw double-digit growth in graduate positions.

Tang Daisheng, Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, noted that Guangdong and Jiangsu have formed complementary high-quality employment models, with Guangdong’s developed service sector accommodating liberal arts and business talents and Jiangsu’s manufacturing industry providing professional positions for science and engineering graduates.

Zha Tao, Deputy Director of the Department of Vocational Capacity Building of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, introduced that since last year, the ministry has promoted a linked model of “job demand + skills training + skills evaluation + employment services”, carrying out 11.53 million subsidized vocational training sessions last year to help workers upgrade their skills.