China’s young people still struggle to find jobs

BEIJING – One year after the coronavirus pandemic, young people in China are still struggling to find jobs.

The unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 was 13.1% in February, well above the national urban unemployment rate of 5.5%, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday.

The 13.1% youth unemployment rate is the same as in the first quarter of last year, the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

The high number implies “an ongoing challenge of underemployment and pressure on the labor market,” said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategic research at China Renaissance. He added that, based on the contraction of the government’s and third-party’s monthly survey labor measures, companies do not seem eager to fill vacancies as the pace of economic recovery slows.

Young people face particularly high competition for jobs.

This year, a record 9.09 million students are expected to enter the job market, surpassing last year’s record of 8.74 million, according to official data.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the number of new urban jobs fell to 13.52 million in 2019, from 13.61 million in 2018, according to official data. Last year, as the world struggled to recover from the pandemic, only 11.86 million new urban jobs were created.

China plans to create 11 million new urban jobs this year and reach an unemployment rate of 5.5%.

In an annual review of the economy this month, Premier Li Keqiang said there is “growing” pressure to ensure that people have jobs. China’s economy grew 2.3% last year and the authorities set a conservative growth target of more than 6% for this year.

In contrast to countries that have distributed money to citizens to stimulate spending, China has focused on supporting businesses – and their employees – with tax cuts and cheaper loans. Li told reporters on Thursday how a pandemic shop owner managed to keep the business of about 20 workers afloat with a subsistence allowance.