The Wall Street Journal (June 20) reported that according to official Chinese data released on
June 15, youth unemployment in May rose to 18.4%, from 13.8% a year ago. The May rate is
the highest recorded for youth since 2018, when Chinese officials began releasing the data. It
said the outlook for Chinese graduates is expected to worsen this year even as the overall
jobless rate in China came down slightly from 6.1% in April to 5.9% in May. A record 10.7
million graduates are expected to enter the labour market this year and possibly increase
graduate unemployment by July/August to 23%. The recruitment platform Zhaopin Ltd. said
that competition among graduates looking for jobs had intensified and less than half had
received offers as of mid-April, down from 63% a year ago. Zhaopin Ltd. said for those who
have signed contracts, the average monthly salary dropped by 12% from a year ago, to the equivalent of less than $12,000 a year. The education, manufacturing and technology industries
absorbed the largest number of college graduates last year, according to human-resources
services firm 51job Inc. The education sector alone employed more than 10 million people by
2020, according to the most recent estimate by Beijing Normal University and TAL Education
Group.
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