Figures of the first quarter of this year show that 2.68 million jobs were created in China's urban areas, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday.

Wen said at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2009 that per capita urban disposable income grew 11.2 percent and per capita rural cash income rose 8.6 percent year on year in real terms.

In the first two months, the number of newly employed in urban areas reached 1.62 million, down 210,000 from the same period of 2008, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The employment of college graduates in first jobs fell to 20 percent in the first quarter from the historical average of 70 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2009)