BEIJING, Jan. 17 -- China's job market remained generally stable in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday.

A total of 12.06 million new urban jobs were created last year, exceeding the annual target of 11 million, the data showed.

Faced with challenges in ensuring employment, China has stuck to an employment-first policy and rolled out a raft of effective measures, with emphasis put on the key groups, said Kang Yi, head of the NBS.

"Due to the epidemic resurgence, small and medium-sized enterprises faced greater difficulties in 2022, making it harder for key groups, especially young people, to land jobs," Kang said.

Kang noted that the job market had perked up recently, with pro-growth policies and follow-up measures gradually taking effect.

NBS data showed that China's surveyed urban unemployment rate came in at 5.5 percent in December last year -- easing 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.

Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate among those aged between 16 and 24 dropped by 0.4 percentage points from November to 16.7 percent in December, while the rate among those aged between 25 and 59, the majority of the labor market, stood at 4.8 percent, the data revealed.

The surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities stood at 6.1 percent in December 2022, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.

In 2022, the number of rural migrant workers totaled 295.62 million, an increase of 3.11 million, or 1.1 percent compared to the previous year. This figure was higher than the pre-pandemic level registered in 2019, according to the NBS.

Kang estimated China's number of college graduates to top 11.5 million this year, placing pressure on the country's job market, but he expressed confidence in overcoming this challenge.

"As the economy recovers and hiring demand rises, job openings are also expected to increase. China's job market will see an overall improvement this year," Kang said.

Factors including work and production resumption, the revival of the services sector, and the rapid development of new growth drivers, are among favorable factors that help create job opportunities, Kang said.