China stops releasing youth unemployment figures as it slips into deflation

Official figures published on Tuesday showed China's overall unemployment rate had risen to 5.3 percent in July

August 15, 2023

China wants everyone to stop talking about the terrible economy and presses pause on publishing youth unemployment stats

China has stopped releasing youth unemployment figures, which were seen by some as a vital indication of the country’s slowdown.

The decision is due to changes in the world’s second-largest economy and society, a government spokesman said.

In June, China’s jobless rate for 16- to 24-year-olds in urban areas hit a record high of more than 20 percent.

Official figures published on Tuesday showed China’s overall unemployment rate had risen to 5.3 percent in July.

The country’s central bank also cut the cost of borrowing on Tuesday in an attempt to help boost growth.

At the same time the government said it would temporarily suspend publishing youth joblessness data but gave no timeline for the suspension, the BBC reported.

A spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said that the method of calculating unemployment among young people needed reconsidering.

“The economy and society are constantly developing and changing. Statistical work needs continuous improvement”, Fu Linghui told a news conference in Beijing.

Fu hinted that the growth in the number of students between 16 and 24 years of age had affected unemployment figures, but China has never counted those in education as unemployed.

China started publishing youth unemployment figures in 2018. However, it does not currently release data on the employment status of young people in rural areas.

The announcement came as the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery is slowing, the BBC reported.

[With Inputs from IANS]

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