BEIJING - Chinese State-owned enterprises administered by the central government on Wednesday offered more than 3,600 jobs to college graduates from regions where ethnic minority groups are most concentrated.

A total of 46 SOEs have offered jobs to graduates from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tibet autonomous region, and Qinghai province during a job fair in Beijing.

Vice-chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission Jiang Zhigang said the trial move was aimed at promoting employment as well as boosting development in the nation's less developed west.

Among the jobs provided, some were locally based in the western regions, while others were based in Beijing and Shanghai and even overseas.

The new recruits would be mainly employed in the construction, resources exploration, machinery, services, and aerospace sectors.

More than 6.8 million Chinese graduates will enter the job market this year.