TIANJIN -- China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security started a weeklong job-hunting service campaign on Sunday to help university graduates get employed amid the global financial crisis.

Job seekers crowd into an employer's stall at the job fair for medicine graduates in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, November 15, 2008. A job fair kicked off here on Saturday with over 5,000 job vacancies provided by more than 100 enterprises. [Xinhua]

Statistics showed that about six million students will graduate from universities and colleges next year and some 800,000 of this year's graduates are still awaiting job offers.

Si Yilei, director of the ministry's National Center for Human Resources, said besides the job fairs, the ministry would also provide consultations on job-hunting, give guidance and training to the graduates who choose to start their own business, and establish a database of unemployed graduates.

Vice Minister Zhang Xiaojian said the graduates would face severe challenge in job-hunting due to the global financial crisis.

"It's significant to the social stability of helping the graduates to get employed," Zhang said.

More job opportunities in less-developed central and western parts of China will be offered to the graduates, he said.