China unemployment: Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns pose yet another hurdle for young urban jobseekers
- 15.3 per cent unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds in Chinese cities is three times as high as the overall national average of 5.1 per cent
- High jobless rate in the young workforce seen persisting as millions of fresh grads vie for employment, while one popular sector – tutoring – has basically been wiped out
Roughly one out of every seven young urban workers in China remains unemployed, as Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on key industries are adding further pressure on the nation’s weak jobs sector amid more signs of a broad economic slowdown, according to the latest economic data.
Although last month’s rate was an improvement from 16.2 per cent in July, and was 0.2 percentage points lower than in June’s graduation season, it marked an increase from the 13.1 per cent seen in August 2019, pre-coronavirus.
And the 15.3 per cent unemployment rate among the nation’s young workers is particularly glaring against the 4.3 per cent jobless rate for workers in the 25-59 age group, while being exactly three times as high as the overall national average of 5.1 per cent.
In the past several years, 16- to 24-year-olds have seen their employment rate consistently stay above 10 per cent. And Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank, expects the high jobless rate in the young workforce to continue as millions of fresh graduates will enter the job market every year.