Society in China remained stable despite a gloomy employment situation amid the global financial crisis, said Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday.

Wen made the remarks when answering a question on China's employment situation and social stability at a press conference, which was held shortly after the annual legislative session concluded.

"To solve the problem of unemployment, the most important job is to improve support for small and medium-sized enterprises, which hire 90 percent of the labor force," the Premier said.

He admitted China was facing a very severe employment situation.

However, he told reporters "society was stable in the later half of last year and the first two months this year, although more people were not employed and many migrant workers returned home."

He stressed that one of the major tasks of economic and social development was to boost employment, with continued efforts to be made.

"As I previously said, for university graduates and migrant workers, employment can not only affect their livelihood, but also their dignity," said Wen.

"We will make all-out effort to boost employment for them," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)