China says employment situation 'critical'

BEIJING (AFP) — China warned Thursday it was facing serious unemployment problems due to the global economic crisis, amid signs it was increasingly concerned about social tensions across the country.

"Currently, the employment situation is critical, and this impact (of the financial crisis) is still unfolding," Yin Weimin, China's social security minister, told reporters in response to a question on recent labour unrest.

Yin announced a series of measures to try to stave off unemployment -- predicted to rise next year -- and to help those who have lost their jobs, particularly among the more than 200 million rural migrant workers.

The trouble has been most acute in southern Guangdong province, China's manufacturing heartland, where one-fifth of factories in major cities are expected to close by January alone, according to industry estimates.

Thousands of workers have recently gathered outside shuttered factories there, demanding unpaid wages and forcing local authorities to intervene.