China's surveyed urban unemployment rate drops in April

BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent in April, 0.9 percentage points lower than the same period last year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

Compared with the March level, the April figure was 0.2 percentage points lower, said the NBS. A total of 4.37 million new urban jobs were created in the first four months.

The surveyed unemployment rate among those aged between 25 and 59, the majority of the labor market, stood at 4.6 percent last month.

Meanwhile, the surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.2 percent in April, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of March, according to the NBS.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed people who have participated in the employment survey in urban areas.