BEIJING - New progress has been made in the employment of the disabled, as China created new jobs for 329,000 disabled urbanites in 2012, according to a communique released Sunday.

As many as 299,000 handicapped urbanites received vocational training last year, while the number of vocational training bases inched up to 5,271 from 5,254 in 2011, according to the communique, which was released by the China Disabled Persons' Federation, or CDPF.

According to the CDPF, a total of 16,514 blind masseuses and 4,925 blind medical workers were trained in 2012, with 12,887 massage care institutions and 848 medical massage institutions located across the country.

Employment is crucial for helping China's massive handicapped population lead normal lives.

Statistics from the federation show that over 20 million Chinese have hearing disabilities, but a limited number of jobs are open for them in the country's fiercely competitive job market.

The communique showed that about 3.25 million disabled urbanites joined in the country's social pension insurance system for urban residents last year, accounting for 58.4 percent of the total disabled urban population.

In addition, about 13.34 million disabled people in rural areas were included in the new rural social endowment insurance system, taking up 63.8 percent of the total disabled rural population, the communique showed.

China's National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-15) provides that the country will stabilize and expand employment for the disabled.