China's job market has remained generally stable, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate holding steady at 5.2 percent in 2025, official data showed on Monday.
For December alone, the surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.1 percent on average, according to Kang Yi, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, at a press conference in Beijing.
"The national average urban surveyed unemployment rate for 2025 was 5.2 percent. In December, the national urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.1 percent. The urban surveyed unemployment rate in the country's 31 major cities was 5.1 percent. The average weekly working hours for employees in enterprises nationwide was 48.6 hours. The total number of migrant workers for the year reached 301.15 million, an increase of 1.42 million, or 0.5 percent, compared with the previous year," said Kang.
China set a target of a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent in 2025, and aimed to create over 12 million new urban jobs within the year.
China's surveyed urban unemployment rate stands at 5.2 pct in 2025
At least 40 people were confirmed dead, while dozens of others remained hospitalized after two high-speed trains collided near the city of Cordoba in southern Spain on Sunday.
The accident occurred at around 19:45 local time (1845 GMT) when a train carrying 317 passengers on the Malaga-Madrid route derailed for reasons still unknown near Amaduz, about 20 km from Cordoba, Spanish authorities said.
The derailed train struck another high-speed train traveling on an adjacent track from Madrid to Huelva, causing the latter to derail.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced three days of official mourning for the train accident.
Sanchez canceled his scheduled agenda and traveled to the crash site, where he addressed the media and announced that the national mourning period would begin at midnight on Monday. He pledged a full investigation into the cause of the accident, describing it as a "painful day" for the country.
Juanma Moreno, president of the Andalusian regional government, said the impact of the derailment was "extremely violent," noting that some bodies had been found hundreds of meters from the crash site, suggesting that passengers had been thrown from the train.
He warned that more victims could be discovered as rescue operations continue.
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente said earlier that it was "strange" for such an accident to occur on a straight section of track that had only been laid in May 2025. He added that the Malaga-Madrid service, operated by private company Iryo, was using relatively new rolling stock built in 2022.
Alvaro Fernandez Heredia, president of Spain's state-owned rail operator Renfe, told Spanish state radio network RNE that human error had "been practically ruled out," suggesting the cause was more likely related to Iryo's rolling stock or an infrastructure failure.
Spanish media also reported that in August 2025, the national train drivers' union had raised concerns with infrastructure operator ADIF over defects on the same section of track, including surface damage, unevenness and problems with overhead power lines.
40 confirmed dead after high-speed train collision in Spain
