Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17.1% in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year as the world's second-largest economy faces mounting headwinds

Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17.1% in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year as the world’s second-largest economy faces mounting headwinds.

China is battling soaring joblessness among young people, a heavily indebted property sector and intensifying trade issues with the West.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is responsible for economic policy, called Friday for struggling companies to be “heard” and “their difficulties truly addressed,” according to the state news agency Xinhua.

The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was up markedly from June’s 13.2%.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    3 months ago

    The Chinese economy has been astonishingly successful. What has it been? 4 decades of constant growth?
    I must admit I was beginning to think China had found some magical golden model, and their economy had become unstoppable.
    I wonder if the way they calculate unemployment rate is comparable to most western countries? If so 17.1% is surprisingly high IMO.

    The closely watched metric peaked at 21.3% in June of 2023, before authorities suspended publication of the figures and later changed their methodology to exclude students.

    I think most countries do this, as a students main job is considered to be studying.

    • marcos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      121·
      3 months ago

      They’ve got from poor into a middle-economy country, trapped just like the rest of us Brazil, Argentina, Russia, India and etc by the lack of a real Democracy that will let people invest on themselves.

        • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          324·
          3 months ago

          Wait until you’re 25. Go to college for free and get a degree in something STEM. Get a career. Work your way up to a six figure salary. Contribute heavily to retirement. Retire once you get however much is enough.

            • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
              516·
              3 months ago

              Well hey good news, college is still free as long as you’re poor and at least 25 years old. That’s how you get a federal PEL grant to break even on college. Your state probably has grants to literally pay you to go to school on top of the PEL grant since you’re poor. That’s how I did it.

                • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                  413·
                  3 months ago

                  Never too late to go back and get another degree. I’m pretty sure the federal PEL grant will pay for 2 bachelor degrees so you aren’t disqualified for having already gone to school.

                  In other news, I don’t know why there are so many haters downvoting me.

          • claudiop@lemmy.worldEnglish
            122·
            3 months ago

            Did you even consider that your formula doesn’t even work for 90% of people? 6 figure salaries are a US thing, everywhere else you get taxes to pay for irrelevant shit like health. Part of those taxes are for retirement. Those are not optional and scale with the salary from like 10% if you’re poor to like 70% if you’re rich.

            At whatever age retirement is, you get a payout that’s (not linearly) proportional to how much you paid in taxes. That’s the whole of Europe. Probably more complicated or anarchic elsewhere.

            Even with a top 5% salary, you’re not going to pile up all that much.

            The problem is not this scheme. Is that there are not enough young people to support the elderly.

            Also a curiosity about Portugal: A lot of people are starting to lie about not having a degree when they do so that they can get shit jobs more easily. Too many degrees around. (Most people go to college, even if they fail)

            • Jessica@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
              45·
              3 months ago

              I guess I just assumed OP was in America since their retirement plan is a bullet to the head, which is a distinctly American joke since most other countries don’t seem to make retirement such an impossibility.

    • Magister@lemmy.worldEnglish
      47·
      3 months ago

      And also no women for a lot of young men. Only way is to put all those young unemployed men in the army, and start a war somewhere, Taiwan first. Unfortunate…

  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
    126·
    3 months ago

    When I read the headline, I thought they meant actual youth. Like 7 year olds. Not 20 year olds…

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      3 months ago

      I did, too. I thought this metric was a good thing. Like, “oh good, China is addressing their child labor problem.”