The Shanghai Women's Federation organized a job fair exclusively for women yesterday, in response to a survey suggesting a growing number of young women can't find work in the city.

"Some women are pessimistic about their future development since they think it is difficult for them to find a job nowadays. We hope they can get some information and opportunities through this kind of job fair," said Zhang Jing, vice chairwoman of the federation.

More than 30 companies advertised job openings at the fair, which was the first of its kind ever held in the city. Most of the companies were looking for women between the age of 20 and 35 with a college education.

"We are recruiting English teachers for our preschool. Compared with male teachers, women are more careful, patient and better at expressing themselves," said one company representative surnamed Wang at the event.

The fair, which was held at the Hongkou Football Stadium, was crowded with job-seekers yesterday.

"This is a good event as we sometimes have to face gender discrimination at other job fairs," said Fu Lin, a law school graduate. "But it is a little regrettable that there aren't enough high-level occupations offered here."

The fair was set up in response to a survey conducted by the federation and the sociology department of Fudan University.

The survey asked 1,729 women aged 16 to 54 years old about their current employment situation. According to the survey, 14.4 percent of women between the age of 20 and 29 and 25.4 percent of those between 30 and 39 are unemployed.

The average time between jobs for unemployed women is two years, and only 20 percent of those without a job said they were confident about finding new work.

As a result, the federation set up a training plan this year to help young women start their own businesses. The federation plans to provide job training to 20,000 women this year.

(Shanghai Daily March 7, 2005)