Li Says China Needs 7.2% Expansion to Maintain Job Growth

Premier Li Keqiang said China needs 7.2 percent growth to keep unemployment stable and signaled reluctance to widen the budget deficit or ease monetary policy to ensure expansion.

Expansion at that pace would create 10 million jobs a year to maintain the urban registered jobless rate at about 4 percent, Li said in an Oct. 21 speech to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions published yesterday on its website. China’s growth has entered a stage of medium-to-high speed, meaning about 7.5 percent or above 7 percent, Li said.