China’s urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.1 percent on average in 2024, a 0.1 percentage point decrease from the previous year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

The NBS said the number of rural migrant workers rose to 299.73 million in 2024, a 0.7 percent increase, or 2.20 million more than the previous year, with 121.02 million being local rural workers, up 0.1 percent, and 178.71 million being outbound migrant workers, up 1.2 percent.

The NBS also released the statistics for December, showing a 5.1 percent of urban surveyed unemployment rate. The surveyed unemployment rate of the population with local household registration was 5.3 percent, and that of the population with non-local household registration was 4.6 percent, while the rate for non-local agricultural household registration stood at 4.5 percent.

According to the NBS, the employees of enterprises worked an average of 49.0 hours per week in December. In 31 major cities, the urban surveyed unemployment rate stood at 5.0 percent, marginally below the national average.