Current:Home > FinanceChina starts publishing youth jobless data again, with a new method and a lower number -AssetBase
China starts publishing youth jobless data again, with a new method and a lower number
View
Date:2025-04-25 01:17:20
HONG KONG (AP) — China published youth unemployment data Wednesday for the first time since the jobless rate hit a record high in June last year, using a new method that showed an apparent improvement.
China announced a 14.9% jobless rate for people between 16 and 24 in December, using the new method, which excludes students. The statistics bureau stopped publishing the politically sensitive figure last year, after it reached 21.3% in June.
It came as the National Bureau of Statistics announced that China’s economy hit growth targets in 2023, following the end of the country’s years of pandemic-era isolation.
The change in methodology came after youth unemployment surged following an economic slowdown in 2023. Regulatory crackdowns on sectors like technology and education, which typically employed a younger workforce, also made jobs harder to find.
Previously, the youth unemployment rate counted students who worked at least one hour a week as employed, and those who said they wanted jobs but could not find them as unemployed. It’s not clear how the methodological change affects the stated unemployment rate.
“Calculating the unemployment rate by age group that does not include school students will more accurately reflect the employment and unemployment situation of young people entering society,” the statistics bureau said in a statement, adding that students should focus on their studies instead of finding jobs.
It said that the 16 to 24-year-old population includes some 62 million school students, over 60% of people that age.
Excluding school students from the jobless rate will allow authorities to provide youths with “more precise employment services, and formulate more effective and targeted employment policies,” the bureau said.
The bureau also published an unemployment rate for 25 to 29-year-olds for the first time, to reflect the employment situation of university graduates. That jobless rate, which also excludes students, stood at 6.1% in December.
China’s overall urban unemployment rate stood at 5.1% in December, inching up slightly from 5.0% for the months of September through November.
China is under pressure to boost job creation and bolster employment, with official estimates that the number of university graduates will hit a record high of 11.79 million this year.
veryGood! (755)
Related
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- What’s Driving Antarctica’s Meltdown?
- Do you freeze up in front of your doctor? Here's how to talk to your physician
- Eli Lilly says an experimental drug slows Alzheimer's worsening
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- Why the VA in Atlanta is throwing 'drive-through' baby showers for pregnant veterans
- Minnesota to join at least 4 other states in protecting transgender care this year
- Advisers to the FDA back first over-the-counter birth control pill
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- As conservative states target trans rights, a Florida teen flees for a better life
Ranking
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- What Dr. Fauci Can Learn from Climate Scientists About Responding to Personal Attacks Over Covid-19
- Missing sub passenger knew risks of deep ocean exploration: If something goes wrong, you are not coming back
- Vanderpump Rules' Ariana Madix Ready to Dip Out of Her and Tom Sandoval's $2 Million Home
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- House Democrats’ Climate Plan Embraces Much of Green New Deal, but Not a Ban on Fracking
- When a prison sentence becomes a death sentence
- Would Joseph Baena Want to Act With Dad Arnold Schwarzenegger? He Says…
Recommendation
Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
A first-generation iPhone sold for $190K at an auction this week. Here's why.
In Oklahoma, a woman was told to wait until she's 'crashing' for abortion care
San Francisco, Oakland Sue Oil Giants Over Climate Change
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
The Truth About Tom Sandoval and Influencer Karlee Hale's Relationship
German Law Gave Ordinary Citizens a Stake in Switch to Clean Energy
Toddlers and Tiaras' Eden Wood Is All Grown Up Graduating High School As Valedictorian