BEIJING—China's government said Sunday the nation must not ""blindly"" pursue a high growth rate, but rather should prioritize tasks such as stabilizing prices and expanding employment. China should ""pay more attention to the quality and results of growth, pay more attention to stimulating employment and improving people's lives,"" the government said in a statement issued through the official Xinhua News Agency. The statement follows a three-day meeting of the central economic work conference, a high-level meeting of economic policy makers, including the nation's top political leadership. China will adopt a more ""proactive"" policy on employment next year, the statement said, making employment ""a top priority of economic development."" At the same time, more priority will also be given to price stability. ""Stabilizing the overall price level will be put in a more prominent position,"" the statement said. Concerns on inflation are on the rise in China, and were highlighted over the weekend when the National Statistics Bureau reported that the consumer-price index rose 5.1% from a year earlier in November, the fastest increase in more than two years. On Friday, the People's Bank of China raised the reserve-requirement ratio, increasing the amount of funds banks must hold in reserve. It was the sixth such increase this year and the third in a month. In October, the PBOC increased benchmark interest rates for the first time in almost three years. Last week, the Politburo of the Communist Party, the highest decision-making body in China, also ratified a transition to a tighter monetary policy that has been in place for months, shifting its monetary policy stance to ""prudent"" from ""moderately loose."" Fiscal policy will remain on its current setting of ""active,"" the Politburo said. Sunday's statement elaborated further on the country's ""active"" fiscal policy stance, saying that fiscal policy will be used to maintain stable growth, improve the structure of the economy, and promote overall harmony. Next year, China will seek to better handle the relationship between maintaining stable and relatively fast growth, economic restructuring, and managing inflation expectations, the statement said. Macroeconomic policy next year should be ""proactive, stable, prudent and flexible,"" the statement said. China will also expand domestic demand, consumption, and imports, and use imports to promote restructuring and balance the economy, the statement said. The statement reiterated China's often-repeated stance on the yuan exchange rate, saying that it will continue to improve the yuan's exchange-rate mechanism and that it will keep the yuan basically stable at a reasonable exchange rate. (Source: The Wall Street Journal