China jobless toll is the worst in 30 years

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The official urban unemployment rate has risen for the first time since 2003 as exports slump and a slowdown accelerates in the world's third-biggest economy.

Joblessness rose to 4.2% in the December, up from 4% in the previous quarter, said Yin Chengji of the Human Resources and Social Security ministry.

Beijing is preparing for unemployment to hit 4.6% this year, the worst since 1980. Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday that the government must do more to preserve social stability in the face of a "very grim" jobs outlook.

"Growth has fallen off a cliff in China in recent months," said Paul Cavey, chief China economist at Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong. "It does already feel like a recession for a lot of people."

China's economic growth may have cooled to 6.8% last quarter, the slowest in seven years, economists say. The official figure is due this week.