China’s youth unemployment soars to 2-year high as job crunch deepens
The youth jobless rate surged to 18.9 per cent in August – the highest level since Beijing changed the way it calculates the metric in 2023
China’s urban youth unemployment rate rose last month to the highest level since the data set was adjusted in 2023, as career prospects for young people have weakened amid an economic slowdown.
The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24, excluding students, rose to 18.9 per cent in August from 17.8 per cent in July, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
After the jobless rate for the demographic rose to an all-time high of 21.3 per cent in June 2023, Beijing suspended the monthly data release for five months before introducing a revised method of calculating it for December 2023.
A record 12.2 million university students graduated this summer, with the majority of them joining a job market strained by deflationary pressures and external uncertainties. Many of them are struggling to find roles that match their education level and skills.
Maggie Li, a fresh graduate from China’s northern Hebei province, has been job-searching since the beginning of August, after an offer that she had previously accepted was suddenly rescinded without explanation.
The hotel management graduate is looking for administration and human resources positions in Beijing and has had seven interviews so far, but none of them have led to a suitable offer for her background.
“Two of the interviews were for roles different from what was originally advertised,” she said.
One position was for a dormitory instead of a “hotel-like office” as advertised, while the other intended to place her in a role that would primarily involve providing on-the-ground support for meetings instead of front desk administration as promised in the job listing.
While many young jobseekers turn to pursuing further education in hopes of standing out in their applications to entry-level positions, Li was less optimistic about the value of a postgraduate degree.
“Getting a master’s in my field isn’t very useful,” she said. “It’s difficult to switch majors for graduate school, and these days, finding a job is difficult for most majors anyway.”
Barclay Bram, a fellow at the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis, wrote in a report earlier this month that China’s challenging macroeconomic conditions – including the trade war, property slump and deflationary pressure – had forced a record number of graduates to take menial jobs like delivery work.
“While many generations have struggled and overworked, what is unique about today’s cohort is their education level and a sense that their hard work will not pay off as the economy sputters,” he said.
Beijing has rolled out a string of initiatives to help lower the youth unemployment rate in recent months, including a campaign by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to support jobless youth with services such as referrals and training opportunities.
Early results from the campaign are emerging, though progress remains measured.
A report by state broadcaster CCTV on Monday found that the ministry’s local bureau in Chongqing’s Banan District had helped secure employment for 589 of the 1,294 graduates who were jobless as of the end of July.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for those aged 25 to 29, also excluding students, stood at 7.2 per cent in August, up from 6.9 per cent in July.
China’s overall urban jobless rate edged up to 5.3 per cent in August, from 5.2 per cent in July.