China jobs market still seen as weak, unstable even as unemployment rate returns to pre-coronavirus level

China’s official surveyed unemployment rate came in at 5.2 per cent in December, the same as in 2019, and a far cry from February’s reading of 6.2 per cent

According to an independent index, the number of job posts fell by 17 per cent and the number of jobseekers dropped by 7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020

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China said this week that there were 11.86 million new urban jobs created in last year, 131.8 per cent of its target. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:15pm, 20 Jan 2021Updated: 4:45pm, 20 May 2021

While China’s unemployment picture, like the overall economy, on paper has all but recovered from the impact of the coronavirus, the reality on the ground suggests the job market still remains weak and unstable.

As China reported its economy grew by 2.3 per last year and by 6.5 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the often criticised official surveyed unemployment rate came in at 5.2 per cent in December. This was the same as at the end of 2019 and a far cry from February’s reading of 6.2 per cent.

“As someone who has been unemployed for half of a year, I gave a silent thumbs-up to the report. The reality is more like you cannot find jobs even though everything looks so good,” said a popular comment on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter.

The recovery is seen to be largely due to turnarounds in industrial production, infrastructure and property investment and some parts of the service sector after tens of millions of migrant workers from rural areas who used to travel to urban cities for work were forced to stay at home and lost their incomes at the height of the pandemic in China at the start of last year.

The overall situation looks better year after year, but why do I feel it is harder to live year after year?

Weibo comment

“Industrial production has helped drag up manufacturing profits, employment and investment, which would otherwise struggle amid the sluggish Chinese consumer recovery,” said Rory Green, China economist at TS Lombard.

By the end of 2020, the number of migrant workers had recovered to around 97 per cent of levels seen in 2019, while the ratio of them being unemployed stayed almost the same as a year earlier, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

“The overall situation looks better year after year, but why do I feel it is harder to live year after year?” said another comment on Weibo.