(BEIJING, November 22) -- If there were no Olympic Games, 32-year-old peasant girl Li Yanan might still be wondering about how to find a job in Beijing today.

However, she is fortunate enough to be among the 1.23 million new employees since Beijing began the preparations for the 2008 Olympics.

Li is now a battery truck driver at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, one the 31 Beijing-based Olympic venues.

In April 2007, an employment notice in Li's hometown caught her eye: the Olympic venue seeks drivers and guides. "I happened to have a driver's license so I applied. In July I was admitted and after two months of training, I joined the staff of the venue," she said smiling.

Li is not alone. The rowing park has created a total of 3,000 jobs and more than 50,000 Shunyi peasants have found new jobs due to the needs of the Olympic Games.

In the past five years, the unemployment rate in Beijing has been below 2 percent while over 60 percent of the unemployed have found new jobs, said Wang Fugang, an official of the Beijing Municipal Labor Bureau.