China plans to promote vocational education and provide more skill-training programs for migrant workers as a way to boost employment, a senior human resources official said Friday.

With China's working age population numbering 800 million, employment has become a hot-button issue, as more people are finding it harder to get jobs amid the recent economic downturn.

Meanwhile, companies are dealing with a scarcity of skilled workers, said Li Zhong, spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Less than 20 percent of working-age people are skilled, while highly skilled workers account for only 5 percent of the total, he added.

Li said vocational school graduates have demonstrated greater competitiveness in the job market than their counterparts from universities.

The employment rate of vocational school graduates was about 96 percent in recent years, much higher than university graduates, he said.

There are 2,882 vocational schools in China, with more than 3.86 million students, according to official statistics.

The government plans to encourage more young people to get vocational training instead of going to college as a way of relieving the employment pressure, Li said.

Meanwhile, the government will work harder to make free skill training programs available for more migrant workers, he said, adding that less than one-third of migrant workers have received relevant training..