President Xi Jinping paid an unexpected visit to a job fair in Tianjin on Tuesday, in a move that experts said reflects top leaders' concerns over the job market.Xi arrived at a human resources center in the port city in the morning, surprising many students and company representatives."Employment is the basis of people's livelihood, and is also an issue confronting the whole world," Xi said when he visited the fair, Xinhua News Agency reported. "Without economic growth, the employment issue can't be solved."
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"Intelligence quotient and emotional quotient, which is more important? EQ is important for adapting to society, although it should be used together with professional knowledge and techniques," Xi said.
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Xi's visit was made in the wake of slowed economic growth and estimates that fewer jobs will be available for fresh graduates this year.
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A recruiter in Tianjin said on condition of anonymity that many companies have slashed new positions this year.Nearly 7 million students will graduate from college in July and as of April 19 only 28 percent of graduates in Beijing had signed employment deals with employers. In Shanghai the rate was 29 percent, and in Guangdong province it was 47 percent, reported China Central Television.Those figures were lower than previous years, according to the report.
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"In the past, nearly 90 percent of graduates could find a job six months after graduation but I'm afraid the figure may only be 86 percent or so if the economy does not rebound in the later half of the year," he said.
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The registered unemployment rate in urban China stood at 4.1 percent at the end of March, the same as at the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The figure does not cover unemployed fresh graduates.Â