Employment in Northeast China worsened in this year's first quarter compared with the same period last year and also in other areas, according to a report.

The report was released Monday by Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment online platform, and the China Institute for Employment Research attached to Renmin University of China.

It calculated the China Institute for Employment Research index, designed to monitor China's job climate, based on big data analysis of Zhaopin.com. Higher numbers in the rankings indicate a prosperous job market.

According to samples from 55 big and medium-sized cities, 34 of which are in East China, the index in Northeast China was 0.89, the lowest among all regions, including Central, West and East China at 1.58, which means Northeast China is experiencing pressure to promote employment.

The index also was lower than last year's for the same period, 1.2. The report indicated that the numbers in four major cities in Northeast China, Changchun, Harbin, Dalian and Shenyang, were all under 1, which means their employment situation became much worse.

The analysis showed employment in the internet industry was 5.05, while it ranged from 9.06 to 12.62 in total for 2017. That's the first time the internet industry's index did not rank first among all fields.

The report said that resulted from more people looking for jobs in the internet industry, a 20 percent boom compared to the last quarter of 2017. However, internet companies didn't grow as fast as before. As a result, job positions in the market were reduced by over 40 percent. So, the competition in this sector became greater.