JINAN — Vice-Premier Ma Kai on Sept 15 stressed the need for increased efforts to promote job growth and boost entrepreneurship.

Ma called for a more proactive employment policy during an inspection in East China’s Shandong province.

Despite improvement, China is still facing employment pressure, which requires authorities to intensify efforts in increasing jobs and optimize employment structure, said the vice-premier.

Work should be done to encourage start-ups and entrepreneurship, and provide more vocational training and better public employment services for job hunters, he said.

Ma also stressed that particular attention should be given to college graduates and resettling workers whose jobs had been lost in production capacity cuts, as well as other people with difficulties in finding work.

China created 13.1 million new jobs for urban residents in 2016. The registered unemployment rate in Chinese cities stood at 4 percent at the end of last year.