Data not available
After 6 consecutive months of rising youth unemployment in urban areas of China, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced it would no longer be publishing the figures — it did, however, release a host of other disappointing financial data that saw the country’s economic outlook darken.
A spokesperson for the NBS claimed that it’s suspending the data in an effort to “optimize” collection methods, conceding that the current 16-24 age bracket “needs further research”. However, after the share of unemployed young people in urban China hit record highs in each of the last 3 months and capped out at 21.3% in June, many suspect ulterior motives in taking the figures behind closed doors.
No news is bad news
The announcement quickly started trending on Chinese social media site Weibo, where users questioned the decision. With falling exports, weakened consumer spending, an ailing property market, and a waning birth rate, youth unemployment is just one in a list of concerns for the world’s second-largest economy — and some believe the true rate could be even higher than the numbers Chinese authorities were putting out.
The NBS started reporting the figure back in January 2018, when it sat at a modest 11%, not far from the comparable US rate for that year of 9%. The share of unemployed 16-24-year-olds in urban parts of the country — China has never published rural figures — has grown substantially and really accelerated this year, with the final record-breaking June number up some 6% since January.
