BEIJING- Joblessness among youth in Chinese cities rose a second month in February, tracking the nation’s jobless rate which reached a two-year high, official data showed on Thursday.
The urban jobless rate for 16-to-24-year-olds, excluding students, grew to 16.9 percent from 16.1 percent in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The unemployment rate for 25-29-year-olds climbed to 7.3 percent from 6.9 percent, as did the jobless rate for 30-59-year-olds at 4.3 percent from 4.0 percent.
China’s nationwide survey-based urban jobless rate was at its highest in two years at 5.4 percent, according to data released by the statistics bureau on Monday.
China stopped reporting the data for youth joblessness for months after the unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds hit a record 21.3 percent in June 2023.
The National Bureau of Statistics resumed publishing the closely watched benchmark in December that year, after changing the methodology to exclude students.
The jobless rate does not account for job seekers who have given up on job searches, and does not assess the unemployment situation in rural China.
China’s leaders have pledged stronger fiscal and monetary support for the economy, with a particular emphasis on spurring domestic consumption as trade pressures from the United States cloud its economic outlook.
Top leaders in China have maintained an economic growth target of “around 5 percent” for 2025, but analysts say that may be a tall order given pressure on exports, tepid household demand and a protracted property crisis.
Meanwhile, China should step up support for its burgeoning services sector to boost consumption, which top leaders made a priority this year to spur growth amid US tariff disputes, economists from Peking University and a former central bank adviser said. As China’s policy tone has tilted toward boosting household consumption, authorities have doubled the fiscal stimulus to 300 billion yuan ($41.46 billion) on an expanded consumer goods subsidy scheme for electric vehicles, appliances and other goods.
