BEIJING, CHINA - China expects more than 40 million people to be unemployed in 2009 and wants to tackle the problem by training more to become housekeepers, state media reported Friday.

The government's jobless forecast, reported by the Beijing News, comes after several warnings that the global financial crisis has had a serious impact on the nation's trade-dependent economy.

Earlier this year, state media said 25 million migrant workers had lost their jobs after the once-bustling coastal provinces saw their traditional markets in North America and Europe shrink.

China, which had double-digit growth every year from 2002 to 2007, said growth dropped to nine percent in 2008 and 6.1 percent in the first quarter of this year.

To address the problem of growing unemployment, the government has unveiled a plan to train large numbers of housekeepers, the paper reported.

It pointed out that there is an estimated shortfall of more than 10 million housekeepers in the Chinese economy.

At the same time, about 60 percent of the unemployed are middle-aged, fitting into the age group that typically supplies housekeepers to Chinese families.

Housekeeping is a growth business in China, as an increasing number of middle-class families can afford this service, and need it, because both spouses work.