Spring Festival is not yet over but job seekers cannot wait any longer. About 30,000 people flocked to the first job fair in the capital yesterday amid the global economic downturn.

Anxious candidates queued up for about half an hour to buy tickets to get into the new hall of the Agriculture Exhibition Center. And even after getting the tickets, many of the candidates were told to wait outside because the hall was too crowded.

More than 7 million college graduates will enter the job market this year and about 9 million urban unemployed could find it difficult to land a job.

About 300 employers have set up stalls at the two-day fair that offers 3,000 to 4,000 jobs, and candidates were seen elbowing their way through the crowd to reach the front.

"We can tell from the look of the fair that the job market is tough now," Li Shuyu, a fair organizer, said.

"We have tightened security for the fair. Many job seekers were reluctant to leave the hall even after the fair closed at 4 pm because they wanted to have a few more words with their prospective employers."

Job seekers in the country face a tough time this year as the global financial crisis takes a toll on the Chinese economy. The first half of this year would be the "toughest" for the government as it prepares for a moderate 8 percent GDP growth against double-digit increase in previous years.

The government expects to keep the registered urban unemployment rate at 4.6 percent this year, the worst since 1980.