Shenzhen's mayor Xu Zongheng has vowed to help all Shenzhen hukou holders with a college degree land jobs in the city.

More than 10,000 college students holding Shenzhen hukou, or permanent residence permit, are expected to graduate this year, up 20 percent from 2006, according to statistics from the municipal personnel bureau.

At a meeting on employment Friday, Xu said maintaining the 100 percent employment rate of graduates in the city was a "must-do task."

The government will create vacancies for fresh graduates in the public welfare and logistic services sector, Xu told the meeting.

The mayor's promise came less than one month after he gave government jobs to six college students from low-income families in the city.

About 98 percent of fresh graduates choose to look for work in Shenzhen, a government survey done earlier this year showed. The survey, which polled 1,514 college students with Shenzhen hukou, also found that 97.23 percent of them hoped to find a job soon after graduation, and 10.63 percent of them wanted to start their own companies.

The city's demand for fresh graduates, however, has increased by only about 10 percent since last year, according to statistics from the personnel bureau.

At the meeting, Xu also promised to make sure that every family has at least one employed member. The city will keep its registered unemployment rate at below 3 percent, he said.

Shenzhen's registered unemployment rate dropped from 2.61 percent in the year 2003 to 2.31 percent in 2006. The rates are lower than the national average.

Xu also promised to crack down on employers withholding wages. During a recent three-month inspection of 8,729 companies, the government found that 131 of them owed back wages. They were ordered to pay employees 88.13 million yuan (11.3 million U.S. dollars) in back wages and compensation.

Editor: Wing