China youth unemployment jumps to 17.1% in July

BEIJING, AUG 17 (AFP/APP):Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17.1 percent in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year.

The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds, which no longer includes students after Beijing altered the formula used to tally joblessness, was 13.2 percent in June, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Soaring joblessness among young people is just one of the hurdles the world’s second-largest economy is facing, alongside a heavily indebted property sector and intensifying trade issues with the West.

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

Among 25- to 29-year-olds, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent for July, according to data released Friday by the NBS, up from the previous month’s 6.4 percent.

For the workforce as a whole, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent last month.

 However, the NBS figures paint an incomplete picture of China’s overall employment situation, as they take only urban areas into account.

President Xi Jinping said in May that countering youth unemployment must be regarded as a “top priority”.

In June, 11.8 million students graduated from university in China, heightening competition in an already tough job market.

On Thursday, China released more disappointing economic data, including figures showing dampened industrial production, despite recent government measures aimed at boosting growth.