Unemployment among people aged 16 to 24 in urban areas of China hit 18.8 percent in August, setting a record high for the second consecutive month after the country’s authorities revised the methodology of the indicators late last year to exclude students.
According to the latest official data from the National Statistics Office (ONE), The number increased significantly throughout the summer: It rose from 13.2% in June to 17.1% the following month, adding another 1.7 points in August.
This situation, according to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, is due to the Record number of university graduates entering the job market -This year’s figure is estimated at around 11.8 million– and the increasingly less promising prospects they find on the job market, weighed down by the slowdown in the recovery of the world’s second largest economy.
China stopped publishing data on youth unemployment in July last year after it hit a record high. a historic record of 21.3%, and resumed publication in December.
Following the exclusion of students to “more accurately” reflect that job searching was not a priority for them, the new ONE measure stood at 14.9% that month.
The country’s authorities have located the youth employment among its main prioritiesboth because of the negative impact on consumption that a possible drop in income would cause and because of the risks to social stability, a vital issue for Beijing.
Faced with precariousness, continue your studies
According to analysts, young people looking for work after completing their university studies They have reduced their salary expectations by about a third.
Given the situation, many graduates are choosing to extend your studies: A survey of 39 of the country’s top universities by the Economic Observer found that most already enroll more graduate students than undergraduates.
For example, the university considered the best in China, Tsinghua in Beijing, has admitted 3,800 undergraduate students in Septemberwhile in the case of postgraduate studies this figure rises to almost 10,000.
Although the official unemployment figure in urban areas was 5.3% in August – 0.1 percentage points more than the previous month – the specific rate people between 25 and 29 years oldwhich now also excludes students, rose from 6.5% to 6.9%. Among citizens aged 30 to 59, it remains at 3.9%, its lowest rate of the year.
After August economic data came in worse than expected, the ONE said “the economic recovery remains facing multiple difficulties and challenges,” both from the “increasing negative impacts” of “changes” in the external environment and “insufficient effective demand” at the national level.
That low national and international demandas well as the risks of deflation, insufficient stimulus measures, a real estate crisis that has not reached its bottom or a lack of confidence among consumers and the private sector are some of the causes put forward by analysts to explain what is happening in the world’s second largest economy.
