July 31, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1424

BEIJING, July 30: China’s official jobless rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 4.2 per cent at the end of June, up from 4 per cent six months earlier, as the impact from Sars hit home, official figures showed on Wednesday.

China considers employment growth as its number one economic priority and is aiming to keep jobless numbers below 4.5 per cent this year but the deadly Sars outbreak has dented hopes that this will be achieved.

The disease hit the services sector hard — particularly catering and commerce — and Zhang Xiaoqiang, secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission, acknowledged the impact on jobs would be felt for “some time”.

The outbreak slowed the rate of income growth and forced an estimated seven to eight million rural residents to leave urban areas and return home as businesses shut.

Zhang said China must strive to develop labour intensive industries and provide more assistance to small- and medium-sized enterprises to help create jobs and offset the negative effects of the epidemic, the China Daily reported him as saying.—AFP