With supply and demand both reaching new highs, the job market in China was very brisk during the first quarter, the People's Daily reported Thursday.

The country's registered job opportunities between January and March exceeded 3 million while the number of job seekers topped 7 million. Both of the two figures are the highest ever according to the records from the Ministry of Personnel.

Marketing, computer, machinery, secretary and architecture are the five most needed occupations listed in descending order. In contrast, the five most popular occupations craved by job seekers are computers, marketing, machinery, architecture and accounting.

Official statistics showed that the supply/demand ratios for the five most needed occupations have been "fairly stable" and kept ranging between 1:15-1:25.

By comparison, however, the supply/demand ratios for foreign languages, light industry and economics have all been larger than 1:4.

Statistics on regional job markets revealed that the job supply for administrative management, marketing, machinery and instrument falls short of demand in Beijing while quite a number of openings remain unoccupied in sectors like medicine, sanitation and agriculture in east China's Shandong Province and electronics and communications in central China's Wuhan City.

Compared with the forth quarter of last year, the market demand for bachelors has edged down five percentage points. Besides, eastern China and coastal cities remain to be job seekers ' most favorite workplaces. Shandong Province, with a registered job supply of 316,000 and 795,000 job seekers, has overtaken Shenzhen to become the third briskest job market in China. The first two remain to be Shanghai and Beijing.

By People's Daily Online