BEIJING -- China's job market proved resilient despite slowing economic growth in the first nine months of the year, according to data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) on Friday.

From January to September, 10.82 million new jobs were created, 160,000 more than a year ago, MHRSS said.

The new jobs exceeded the government's full-year target of at least 10 million new jobs this year.

Li Zhong, the MHRSS spokesman, attributed the better-than-expected job creation to medium-speed economic growth that saw further development of the service sector.

The service sector employed the majority of the country's labor force.

China's gross domestic product expanded 7.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters.

At the end of September, the registered urban jobless rate stood at 4.07 percent, lower than the government's annual unemployment control rate of 4.6 percent targeted by the government.

However, the registered jobless rate may undercount the actual unemployment numbers as a survey among 31 big- and medium-sized Chinese cities found the unemployment rate remained at around 5 percent in the first eight months.

Also on Friday, the MHRSS said gross revenue of social security funds increased 13.5 percent year on year to 2.8 trillion yuan ($456 billion), while gross expenditure totaled 2.39 trillion yuan, up 18.3 percent from a year ago.

China's social security funds cover insurance over pension payment, medical care, unemployment, work-related injury, and maternity.

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