Is China hiding its unemployment figures? Beijing's rising graduate numbers spark concern | Oneindia
Experts say, China's rebound after COVID-19 has been slower than expected. Challenges like a struggling property market, rising local government debt, and subdued consumer spending led Beijing on a sluggish economic road. China officially reported youth unemployment rate of 21% recently. But reports say it might be just double owing to fictitious employment and around 16 million individuals adopting a 'lying flat' approach.
#ChinaUnemployment #Economy #Recession
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#ChinaUnemployment #Economy #Recession
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Transcript
00:00 China has been struggling with a persistent slowdown in economic growth after the COVID
00:05 outbreak.
00:07 As the nation's post-pandemic resurgence stumbles, youth unemployment has reached an
00:12 unprecedented peak.
00:14 Earlier reports said unemployment among Chinese individuals aged 16 to 24 surged to 21.3%
00:20 in June of this year.
00:22 But now, sample this.
00:24 China's officially reported youth unemployment rate of 21% might significantly surpass 46.5%
00:31 owing to fictitious employment and around 16 million individuals adopting a "lying
00:37 flat" approach.
00:40 Before we go any further, let's understand what is "lying flat" approach.
00:45 It's a Chinese slang term that describes a personal rejection of societal pressures to
00:50 overwork and overachieve, such as in the 996-working-hour system, which is often regarded as a rat race
00:58 with ever-diminishing returns.
01:01 This means a sizable chunk has relinquished the idea of moving within the workspace altogether.
01:08 Faced with a challenging dilemma, government policymakers are now turning to educational
01:13 institutions for assistance in addressing the issue.
01:16 The effectiveness of school administrators has long been linked to the percentage of
01:21 their graduates who secure employment.
01:23 However, this scrutiny has escalated, prompting senior school officials to proactively engage
01:28 with companies to discover job opportunities.
01:32 Such heightened pressure has even led some students to fabricate job offers to appease
01:38 school authorities.
01:39 And this is where the numbers change.
01:43 This year's projected graduating class of 11.6 million students is poised to be the
01:48 largest on record, with subsequent classes expected to be even larger.
01:53 Over the past four years, China's youth unemployment rate has doubled, a consequence of economic
02:00 instability resulting from Beijing's zero-Covid measures, which left businesses cautious about
02:06 hiring.
02:07 Now, as far as the economy goes, it expanded by 6.3% in the April-June months from a low
02:15 base a year ago, but was below the expectations.
02:19 So the faltering in China's economy calls for a desperate need to announce financial
02:25 stimulus bigger than interest cuts announced by the Central Bank in China.
02:44 [MUSIC]