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China’s local officials under pressure amid coronavirus pandemic to address rise in unemployment

  • Chinese leadership prioritises keeping unemployment numbers down as soaring jobless rate threatens social stability
  • Policies include incentives aimed at those most at risk – graduates, migrant workers and the small business sector

Reading Time:6 minutes
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Illustration: Henry Wong

This is the third in a series of six stories exploring the causes and consequences of the domestic unemployment crisis China may face following the coronavirus pandemic. This story looks at the switch in focus from growth to keeping the country’s jobless rate under control.

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The coronavirus pandemic has forced a dramatic change in priorities for Beijing’s leaders, as they grapple with falling economic growth and a rising unemployment rate that threatens social stability – the foundation of the ruling Communist Party’s legitimacy.
University graduates, migrant workers and the country’s small business sector are the most at risk and China’s leadership has responded by making controlling unemployment a higher priority for the year ahead than getting the growth rate back on track.
At the same time, local officials have been told multiple times that they must also fulfil the country’s anti-poverty targets by the end of this year, putting further pressure on local cadres to deliver results. That message was reinforced by President Xi Jinping on Monday when he visited the homes of relocated farmers in Datong in the northern province of Shanxi.
A migrant worker waits for a job at a building materials market in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE
A migrant worker waits for a job at a building materials market in Beijing. Photo: EPA-EFE
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“As members of the Chinese Communist Party, we must seek happiness for the people wholeheartedly … and do everything we can to help poverty-stricken families to move into new homes and provide training for them so they can find jobs and live a happy life,” Xi told a family, in the company of local cadres.

But the challenges outlined by Xi were easier said than done, according to experts. They pointed out that surplus farmhands in China’s vast countryside would have to compete with millions of urban labourers for the limited jobs available.

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