China investors vexed as economic data slips into information black hole amid slowdown

China paused releasing unemployment figures for the 16-24 and 25-59 age groups, citing the need to further improve and optimise the labour-force survey statistics

Hundreds of data series released by statistics bureaus at different levels of the government have also been discontinued in the recent years

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The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group in China hit a new high of 21.3 per cent in June, up from 20.8 per cent in May. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00pm, 18 Aug 2023

China’s decision to halt a widely-watched youth jobless rate is expected to vex foreign investors by making it harder to size up the world’s second-largest economy after crackdowns on consulting firms, increased scrutiny on cross-border data transfers and a newly enacted anti-espionage law.

The National Bureau of Statistics made the decision to pause releasing unemployment figures for the 16-24 and 25-59 age groups earlier this week, citing the need to further improve and optimise the labour-force survey statistics.

The data has shown that more than one in five people aged 16-24 in China has been unemployed since April, with the figure rising to a new high of 21.3 per cent in June.

A search on Wind, a Bloomberg-like Chinese terminal service widely used by domestic economists, traders and hedge fund managers, this week found that hundreds of data series released by statistics bureaus at different levels of the government had been discontinued in recent years.

We need to have a line of sight that allows us to feel reasonably assured about how we will develop in the future

Jens Eskelund

“We need to have a line of sight that allows us to feel reasonably assured about how we will develop in the future,” Jens Eskelund, president of the 1,700-member European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told the Post.