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The State Council launched a series of measures on Wednesday to increase employment opportunities among this year's college graduates.

Through the initiatives, the government is encouraging graduates to consider setting up their own businesses. Grads seeking self-employment can apply for loans of up to 100,000 yuan ($15,400), said the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Provincial governments are being urged to provide favorable policies for graduates wanting to start up enterprises, such as offering subsidies or tax rebates.

The country will also boost employment by encouraging graduates to teach at rural schools. This will be supported by favorable policies. Research institutes will also be required to hire more graduates as research assistants. And graduates will be urged to join the army, the State Council said.

Measures will be taken to ensure medium-sized and small companies offer jobs to graduates. New job-seekers will also be encouraged to work in western regions of the country, remote rural areas and townships.

A total of 6.6 million students will graduate from college this year, 300,000 more than last year. China's top labor official, Yin Weimin, admitted in March that the employment situation facing them will be tough.

Yin Chengji, a spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said at a news conference in April that the ministry will prioritize the creation of jobs for college grads this year.

Chen Yu, director of the China Institute for Occupation Research at Peking University, said the steps the government is taking shows its commitment to finding jobs for young people.

"Rural areas, especially in the western regions, are demanding college graduates."

Although work in the western areas of the nation can be difficult, such jobs offer graduates more options and the grassroots work experience will be a great treasure for their entire lives, he said.

Chen said the idea of offering loans to graduates wanting to start their own businesses is a continuation of the government's earlier efforts to encourage more private enterprises among newly qualified people.

Chen said he is optimistic about college graduates' employment situation this year.

However, some students who are going to graduate in the summer said they were still worried about their employment prospects.

"The employment rate released by the government is always higher than it seems to us," said Zhang Ling, a Beijing student who took the national exam for postgraduates this year.

Li Mo, who graduated last year and who has lost three jobs since then, said grads can get a foot in the door but often find it difficult to land a permanent job.

"Some enterprises offer us positions as interns and make us believe there will be a job at the end of the internship and that contributes to the stats that show many grads leave and get a job," he said. "But we soon became unemployed after the so-called internship ends."

Questions:

1. What has the State Council done for new college graduates?

2. What are some of the measures?

3. How many are expected to graduate this year?

Answers:

1. It launched a series of measures to increase employment opportunities for this year's college graduates.

2. The government is encouraging graduates to consider setting up their own businesses. Grads seeking self-employment can apply for loans of up to 100,000 yuan ($15,400).

3. 6.6 million students.

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.