2y ago

China starts publishing youth jobless data again, with a new method and a lower number

apnews.com

6 comments

The CCP solves joblessness the same way they solve most problems: By dropping all ambitions to a minimum, pushing numbers and sugarcoating it with lies when these ridiculously low targets are still not met. This is pretty much the same approach they totally abolished poverty before or kept the pandemic under control. They‘re basically just telling their citizens to shut up about it or face consequences for going against the state narrative.
- Tbf the US has redefined the unemployment rate many times when convenient as well. There was a good planet money podcast about it years ago.
  
  That's a fair point. Here in Germany the government has infamously reframed the term as well about two decades ago and we're all worse off because of it. It's for that reason (among others) that I think the situation in China is very dire and not easened retroactively because 'the numbers before were wrong'. Because that's exactly what the chinese government is trying to sell here.
"There's more to an election than mere votin', my boy, for as an eminent American once said: 'I care not who casts the votes of a nation if they'll let me make the count.'" — from Uncle Henry, a novel by George Creel, 1922.
Data from china is shady anyways. For example right before publishing their 2023 economic data, they silently reduced their 2022 figures – officially because they changed how they where calculated – making a 1.5 % growth to a 5.2 %, hitting their 5 % growth target.
In economics Chinese figures where debated for years now and no one really trusts them anymore.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
HONG KONG (AP) — China published youth unemployment data Wednesday for the first time since the jobless rate hit a record high in June last year, using a new method that showed an apparent improvement.
It came as the National Bureau of Statistics announced that China’s economy hit growth targets in 2023, following the end of the country’s years of pandemic-era isolation.
Regulatory crackdowns on sectors like technology and education, which typically employed a younger workforce, also made jobs harder to find.
“Calculating the unemployment rate by age group that does not include school students will more accurately reflect the employment and unemployment situation of young people entering society,” the statistics bureau said in a statement, adding that students should focus on their studies instead of finding jobs.
China’s overall urban unemployment rate stood at 5.1% in December, inching up slightly from 5.0% for the months of September through November.
China is under pressure to boost job creation and bolster employment, with official estimates that the number of university graduates will hit a record high of 11.79 million this year.
The original article contains 360 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 50%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

6 comments