International Research Institute Estimates Communist China’s Actual Youth Unemployment Rate Double The Official Number

According to official data released in early August, the youth unemployment rate in China was nearly 20% in July, three times the national average and the highest recorded. Meanwhile, 10.76 million college graduates entered the job market this summer, but the domestic economy only grew at a mere 0.4% in the second quarter. Faced with an increasingly uncertain future, most companies are unwilling and unable to hire many inexperienced degree holders.

Zhao Yuting, a 22-year-old who majored in English, told reporters that she has sent her resume to dozens of companies since her graduation in July, but unfortunately, only a few companies called her back. After two, or three months of job hunting, employment opportunities are still very slim. She has been forced to move back in with her parents and is stressed out about her future.

Analysts said that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) strict Zero-Covid policy has worsened the overall economic downturn, and caused the service, retail, manufacturing, and construction industries to sink into desperate situations. With July and August being the peak graduation season, a large, highly educated workforce will flood the market, making it even harder for blue-collar workers to find jobs. However, CCP’s official data does not usually track unemployment among rural youth. An economist at research group TS Lombard estimated the actual unemployed population of Chinese youth could be more than double the official number.

Ho-fung Hung, a professor who specializes in communist China’s political economy at Johns Hopkins University, agrees that the actual situation of youth unemployment is more serious than the official data shows, and said that “if the problem continues without remedy, it will easily spread social disorders.”