China’s economy may be booming but the country is seeing a growing number of university graduates unable to find jobs.

This year, China turned out 5 million graduates but 1.44 million graduates, or about 30 percent of the total, were yet to find a job as of the end of September, China Daily reported Thursday quoting the Ministry of Education.

China’s number of jobless university graduates has shot up from 340,000 in 2001.

One reason for the increase is that some university graduates choose to work at grass-roots level to take advantage of the government’s offer to waive their debts for taking up such duties.

But the report said most graduates prefer jobs in large cities.

"Because many graduates only focus on jobs with high salaries and direct links to their specialties, they miss other good work opportunities,” Hong Chengwen, a management professor at Beijing Normal University, told China Daily.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International