More jobs are available this academic year for university and college students who will graduate in 2019, a report released on Dec 13 said.

The employment report, issued by online recruitment platform Zhaopin.com, said the ratio of jobs to job hunters was 2.68-to-1 in the first 11 months of the year, compared with 1.78-to-1 in the same period last year.

The report was based on job openings from various enterprises, including small and micro businesses, and the job intentions of more than 1 million registered students.

“There are plenty of job opportunities for university graduates,” said Chen Yu, deputy director of the China Association of Employment Promotion.

Job hunters grew by 21 percent year-on-year while the number of job positions increased by 81 percent, the report said.

“The majority of those new jobs were in the education, consulting, internet, e-commerce, media and culture industries,” said Li Qiang, a senior consultant at Zhaopin.com.

Chen believes that job growth in the service industry is a result of people’s booming demands in life, brought on by the country’s economic development.

“The service industry needs more workers to provide higher quality services for people when the economy develops to a certain degree,” he said. “For example, many young people enjoy fitness, so the job of personal trainer is popular.”

The ratio in the import and export industry also increased to 1.81-to-1 this year, from 0.71 last year, showing a strong demand for talent.

However, it was harder to actually get a job in the internet and e-commerce industry, because the pool of candidates grew faster than job vacancies.

According to the report, the industry’s ratio this year was 2.7-to-1, down 0.09 from last year.

Established internet companies are now under pressure to upgrade technology — for example, toward artificial intelligence — and need to adjust, the report said.

It also said that private enterprises, including small and micro businesses, were thirstier than ever for talent. The ratio for private companies was 3.85-to-1, with number of job positions expanding by 109 percent. Jobs in companies with 100 to 499 employees increased by nearly 90 percent.

A career service teacher surnamed Chen at Sichuan University in Southwest China said the university’s graduates have paid a lot of attention to private businesses, including those small ones.

“Our students have strong passions for those companies when seeking jobs,” she said. “This year our university held three specialized job fairs, and more than 100 small and micro businesses from all over the country attended. We never held such a specialized event before.”

There will be about 8.34 million college graduates in 2019, 140,000 more than that of this year, according to Lin Huiqing, vice-minister of education.