China’s soaring levels of youth unemployment have heightened fears the world’s second largest economy is heading for a crippling slowdown. Beijing has now come up with a solution: It will stop releasing the numbers.
The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday said it would stop publishing age group-specific unemployment data this month, after China’s youth unemployment rate – for 16- to 24-year-olds — rose to a record high of 21.3% in June. Some experts believe it is actually even higher.
The announcement came amid a slew of data on Tuesday that fell short of expectations, further evidence that China’s economy is struggling to regain momentum after emerging from three years of “zero Covid” isolation.
Meanwhile, the property market, which accounts for as much as 30 percent of China’s GDP, is teetering on the brink of collapse. The country’s largest private real estate developer has sought to delay payment on a private onshore bond for the first time.
Just before Tuesday’s data was released, the central bank in Beijing for the second time in the span of three months cut key rates intended to bolster economic activity.