China pledged to offer young people at least 1 million trainee positions each year for 2024 and 2025, state media reported on Wednesday, citing the country's human resources ministry, as a bumpy economic recovery led to a competitive job market.

As part of the ministry's raft of measures to stabilise the job market and promote youth employment, funding for state-owned enterprises will be extended, while qualified college graduates are allowed to receive subsidies, the ministry said.

China's survey-based youth jobless rate nudged down to 14.2% in May from 14.7% in April, statistics bureau said on Tuesday, despite graduation season approached. (Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo, Editing by Louise Heavens)