CHINA'S urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent at the end of September, with 9.05 million urbanites registered as unemployed, a Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security official said in Beijing today.

The rate dropped 0.1 percentage points from 4.2 percent at the end of the second quarter this year, Yin Chengji, spokesman of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS), told a press conference.

In the first nine months of this year, China created 9.31 million new jobs in urban areas, exceeding the annual target of 9 million for 2010.

At the end of 2009, China's registered unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. The government aims to keep the urban registered unemployment rate below 4.6 percent this year.