CHINA’S urban unemployment rate was 4.08 percent at the end of June, identical with the level in March, the labor ministry said Friday.

    Li Zhong, spokesman of the Human Resources and Social Security Ministry, told a press conference that China added 7.37 million jobs in the first half of this year, more than the 7.25 million a year earlier.

    Any marked weakening in the labor market would raise alarm bells for China’s government, which regards healthy employment levels as a top policy priority and an important condition for social stability.

    “The employment situation was generally stable in the first half of this year,” Li said in a webcast carried on the government portal website, www.China.com.cn.

    China aims to keep its registered urban unemployment rate below 4.6 percent in 2014, unchanged from its target for 2013.(SD-Agencies)