The ongoing international financial crisis has brought grave challenges to global employment, and countries need to work together to overcome these challenges, a senior Chinese official said here on Monday.

As the most populous developing country, China is also faced with the most serious employment difficulties in the new century, and employment has become a major task in the country's effort to ensure economic growth, people's livelihood and social stability, said Yin Weimin, China's minister of human resources and social security.

Yin was addressing a meeting on the financial crisis' impact on global employment, which was organized by the Geneva-based International Labor Organization (ILO) as part of its ongoing annual conference.

The minister said the Chinese government has adopted a stimulus package for steady and fast economic development, which gives higher priority to employment.

Employment is an important objective of the 680-biliion-U.S.- dollar economic stimulus package, which is expected to generate 22 million new jobs in two years, Yin told the meeting, which was attended by labor ministers, leaders from employers' and workers' organizations as well as some heads of states or governments.

Yin said the Chinese government has also taken other active measures to meet the employment challenges, including easing business burdens to maintain jobs, encouraging enterprises to hire laid-off workers and job seekers to start up their own businesses or take up self-employment, enhancing public employment service, and implementing vocational training programs.

The country is also improving and expanding its social security system by increasing financial input.

According to the minister, the above-mentioned policy measures have yielded initial results. It is estimated that for this year, the registered unemployment rate in China's urban area will be kept below 4.6 percent.

Yin also called for global cooperation to tackle the financial crisis and its impact on employment.

"The international community should strengthen cooperation, dialogue and experience sharing, oppose trade protectionism, work for win-win outcome through openness and cooperation, and create more job opportunities for workers of all countries," he said.

He also urged developed countries to "assume more responsibilities and obligations to help developing countries maintain financial stability, economic growth and employment stability."