Unemployment rate climbs

China's urban registered unemployment rate jumped for the first time in five years to 4.2 percent as of Dec 31, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said yesterday.

The jobless rate, which excludes migrant workers and farmers, was 4 percent in the first three quarters of 2008, Yin Chengji, the ministry's spokesman, said.

China has raised its unemployment target to 4.6 percent this year, which would be the worst since 1980, as worsening global financial crisis takes its toll on the country's export-led economy, Yin said.