Two Chinese workers take a break beside a newsstand in Beijing with the latest issue of a lifestyle magazine, November 10, 2000. Unemployment in China remains an acute problem, despite 40 million new jobs will be created in the next few years, primarily from the private sector including the service industry, according to Communist Party Outlook magazine. Foreign economists have warned that unemployment will rise significantly after China joins the World Trade Organisation as inefficient state firms are outperformed by foreign companies.

ASW/HL