China’s August youth unemployment rate rises to nine-month high By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s youth unemployment rate in August rose to its highest level since last December, the statistics bureau said on Friday, as new graduates began looking for job offers, adding to pressure on decision makers to take action.

The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, rose to 18.8 percent last month, up from 17.1 percent in July.

Other economic indicators showed that economic growth slowed in August, putting the country at risk of missing its annual growth target of around 5%.

China resumed publishing its youth unemployment rate last December after excluding students from the survey pool. The highest level before the revision of the statistical method was 21.3% in June last year.

The unemployment rate for 25- to 29-year-olds, excluding students, also rose to 6.9 percent in August from 6.5 percent a month earlier, the statistics office said. The unemployment rate for people aged 30 to 59 remained unchanged at 3.9%.

Rising unemployment in China has pushed some college graduates to take low-paying jobs or even rely on their parents’ pensions, Reuters previously reported.

Some white-collar workers, particularly in the financial industry, also face pay cuts, which analysts say would dampen already weak domestic consumption.

The nationwide unemployment rate, based on surveys, was up to 5.3 percent in August from 5.2 percent in July. Statistics bureau spokesman Liu Aihua said last week that this was due to the graduate season.

Official data showed that China has 11.79 million college graduates this year, a record high.