On July 14, 2024, in Beijing, China, a person was riding a bicycle with a child sitting in the basket.
Tingshu Wang | Reuters
China’s unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24, excluding students, fell to 17.6% in September from 18.8% a month earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, giving officials relief after youth unemployment hit new highs for two consecutive months. Take a breath.
As some 12 million students entered the labor market, the unemployment rate among young people and university graduates jumped from 13.2% in June to 17.1% in July, before August’s figure, which the National Bureau of Statistics decided to change the calculation method to. Excludes December 2023 students.
Youth unemployment hit a record high of 21.3% last June, prompting China to stop publishing the closely watched benchmark until changes were made.
Officials told a news conference on Friday that they were confident the world’s second-largest economy would “continue the stabilization and recovery trend seen in September” after disappointing third-quarter growth data.
But another official survey of factory owner confidence in September showed companies continued to delay hiring last month. Producers last reported improvements in employment conditions in February 2023.
Last month, the proportion of people aged 25 to 29 (excluding college students) was 6.7%, and the proportion of people aged 30 to 59 was 3.9%.
