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Explainer | China unemployment rate: how is it measured and why is it important?
- China provides an official surveyed unemployment rate but it does not include 149 million self-employed business owners and nearly 300 million migrant workers
- The rate rose to historic levels in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but since then has gradually retreated to near pre-pandemic levels
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How is China’s unemployment measured?
The official surveyed unemployment rate for urban workers in China rose to historic levels in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, touching a nearly two-decade high of 6.2 per cent in February. Since then, the figure has gradually retreated to near pre-pandemic levels.
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In May 2021, the surveyed jobless rate stood at 5 per cent from 5.1 per cent in April.
Beijing has set a target of creating over 11 million new urban jobs in 2021 and a surveyed urban unemployment rate of 5.5 per cent.
China’s official jobless indicators are released on a monthly or quarterly basis, but because they only cover part of the job market, it is hard to gauge the real state of China’s unemployment situation.
For the whole of 2020, China’s surveyed jobless rate was 4.7 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent the previous year.
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China’s government set a target of creating 9 million new urban jobs in 2020, compared with 11 million in 2019. Data released for 2020 said that there were 11.86 million new urban jobs created in China, 131.8 per cent of the target.
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