BEIJING — China’s urban households were more upbeat about the employment situation in the first quarter of the year than the previous quarter, according to a central bank survey.

The employment expectation index rose to 53.7 in the first quarter from 53.3 in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the survey conducted by the People’s Bank of China among 20,000 urban households in 50 cities.

The index gauging the households’ feelings about the current employment situation also increased, up to 45.8 from 45.5.

Of those polled, 89.7 percent said their incomes had increased or stayed basically the same, up by 0.9 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the index measuring the households’ expectations for price levels next quarter fell to 60.4 from 64.3 in the previous quarter, the survey showed.