It is still difficult for young people in China to find jobs

BEIJING – One year after the coronavirus pandemic, it is difficult for young people in China to find jobs.

The unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24 has been 13.1% since February, well above the national urban unemployment rate of 5.5%, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

The 13.1% youth unemployment rate is the same as in the first quarter of last year, the height of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

The high figure implies “continued challenge due to underemployment and job market pressure,” said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategic research at China Renaissance. He added that based on a contraction in employment measures in monthly government surveys and third-party surveys, companies do not seem willing to fill vacancies as the pace of economic recovery slows.

Young people face particularly high competition for jobs.

This year, 9.09 million students are expected to enter the labor market, surpassing last year’s record of 8.74 million, according to official figures.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the number of new urban jobs fell to 13.52 million in 2019, down from 13.61 million in 2018, according to official figures. Last year, as the world struggled to recover from the pandemic, only 11.86 million new urban jobs were created.

China aims to create 11 million new urban jobs this year and reach an unemployment rate of 5.5%.

In an annual review of the economy this month, Premier Li Keqiang said there was “increasing” pressure to make sure people had jobs. China’s economy grew 2.3% last year, and authorities have set a conservative growth target of more than 6% for this year.

Unlike countries that have distributed cash to citizens to boost spending, China has focused on supporting businesses – and their employees – with cheaper tax cuts and loans. Li told reporters on Thursday how the owner of a pandemic-affected store managed to keep the business’s 20 or so workers afloat with a living allowance.