Premier Li Keqiang said employment was his primary concern when considering whether or not to roll out stimulus measures.

He was answering a media conference question on what he would consider the lowest acceptable growth rate.

The main consideration for setting the 7.5 percent GDP growth target this year was "to ensure employment, improve people's lives and increase urban and rural income," he said.

"What we care about is people's livelihood behind the GDP figures," he said.

He stressed the link between GDP growth and job generation, so a reasonable growth rate should be pursued.

But the government has to allow a certain flexibility on GDP growth, he said, and the "lower threshold" the government can tolerate is "sufficient employment, and increasing household income".