BEIJING, Sept 13 Reuters BYD, has significantly ramped up hiring, increasing its workforce to more than 900,000 people as of Friday, a senior manager said, making the Chinese electric vehicle giant one of the largest employers in the country.

The move comes as the Chinese government has been prioritising a push to create more jobs, for college graduates in particular as its economy falters.

The total headcount, up 5.8 from the end of August, makes BYD the largest employer among more than 5,300 companies listed on the Chinese mainland stock exchanges, Li Yunfei, BYD39;s general manager for branding and public relations, said in a post on his Weibo account.

With nearly 110,000 technology and RD staff, BYD is the world39;s largest carmaker as measured by RD personnel, Li said, adding that the company has hired nearly 50,000 fresh graduates over the past two years.

Li didn39;t give a breakdown by location in terms of hiring.

A record number of college graduates this year are hunting for jobs in a labour market depressed by COVID19induced disruptions as well as regulatory crackdowns on the country39;s finance, tech and education sectors.

The jobless rate for the roughly 100 million Chinese youth aged 1624 spiked to a 2024 high of 17.1 in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

BYD, alongside other domestic titans such as online retailer JD.com, are among few major companies that are on a big hiring spree.

Other automaking peers especially for foreign…