China announced in Beijing Thursday that its urban registered unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent by the end of the third quarter of this year, 0.1 percentage point lower than the 2003 year end figure.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security at a press briefing Thursday, China had a total of 8.21 million jobless people in its urban areas by the end of September, 210,000 more than that in the previous year.

The number of workers laid off from China's state-owned enterprise (SOE) totaled 1.76 million from January to September, 840,000 down as against last year, the ministry said.

A total of 1.06 million laid-off workers have signed agreements with government-sponsored reemployment training centers, which provide the workers with subsidies to maintain their minimum living standards and cover social insurance.

Source: Xinhua