(Bloomberg) -- China’s youth unemployment rate ticked up in February as the jobs market for recent graduates remains under pressure in the world’s second-largest economy.
The jobless rate hit 15.3% last month for people aged between 16 and 24 years old, a National Bureau of Statistics database showed Wednesday. That was higher than the 14.6% rate recorded in January and the 14.9% figure from December, the first month that a reworked statistic was published after policymakers spent months tweaking their methodology.
The revisions to the data began last summer, after the youth rate topped 21%, a record high and underscoring how much of a pain point a shaky job market has been for the nation as its economy tries to rebound and gain traction. At the time, the NBS said it needed to iron out complexities in the numbers.
The new youth jobless rate was launched at the start of this year, with officials saying the updated method that excludes students reflected a more accurate picture of unemployment. This week’s announcement for February came in a dataset published on the website rather than during China’s monthly press conference covering other closely watched data, such as industrial output and the overall urban unemployment rate. In the past, it’s been announced alongside those figures.
Last month’s rise may be due to season factors around the Lunar New Year holiday, according to Bruce Pang, chief economist for Greater China at Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. He said the labor market is usually “relatively quiet” at the start of the year, adding that it is traditionally a low season as migrant workers return to their hometowns for the holiday period.
The youth jobless rate overall has climbed in recent years as the job market has deteriorated and employers have pulled back on hiring. That’s exacerbated a structural mismatch, as graduates primarily seek white-collar jobs while factories struggle to hire. Regulatory crackdowns in recent years on sectors from technology to private tutoring — once lucrative industries for many young people — have also had an impact.
“The government is still very focus on stabilizing employment this year,” Pang said, adding that Beijing has said it would step up support for groups including college graduates.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
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