AFPPeople on the street in Beijing (archive)
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 05:44
The Chinese bureau of statistics has suspended the publication of new youth unemployment figures indefinitely. According to the official statement, the measurement method may be due for renewal. Critics say authorities are burying their heads in the sand as China recorded a record unemployment rate of 21.3 percent last month.
Economists see the high unemployment rate among people between the ages of 16 and 24 as writing on the wall. The Chinese economy is in dire straits and that is cause for concern for the Communist Party. Access to statistics on the economy is increasingly restricted.
The Chinese statistics agency NBS states that the measurement method for youth unemployment figures should be examined and renewed where possible. In any case, the age categories are being overhauled. It was not said for how long the publication will be delayed.
‘Close your eyes’
The decision of the NBS has been criticized on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. “If you close your eyes, the problem doesn’t exist,” says one user. “There is a saying: bury your head in the sand,” writes another.
Correspondent Garrie van Pinxteren:
“The statement made by the head of China’s National Bureau of Statistics is rather vague. He said that society is changing and circumstances are changing, so we need to rethink how the numbers are collected and used. But you sees on many fronts that China is less open, fewer figures are coming out and economists are told: don’t talk the economy down any further.
The Chinese government finds it very difficult to tackle unemployment. This was partly caused by campaigns against tech companies that have been subject to restrictions, such as Alibaba from entrepreneur Jack Ma. As a result, these companies did not do well and they had to lay off many people. In any case, the unemployment figures only refer to the situation in the cities. Figures for the countryside have never been released.
China is not doing very well economically. The government is trying to attract that, but not yet in ways that have proven effective.”
Youth unemployment is also expected to have increased last month, but no figures have been published. Overall unemployment rose slightly from 5.2 percent in June to 5.3 percent in July, according to the NBS. A partial explanation for the large difference between these figures is that there is not enough work specifically for the increasingly highly educated young people.
“It is a dangerous situation in which the Chinese economy finds itself,” Rien Segers said in a radio program on Friday With an eye to tomorrow. He is emeritus professor of business culture in China and Japan at the University of Groningen.
Growth is declining
For years, China’s gross national product (GNP) grew by double digits. This growth is decreasing steadily and is expected to be between 4 and 5 percent this year. These are excellent figures for a European country, but not for China, explains Segers. “Chinese will ask: do we have a good leader? So President Xi Jinping is in a difficult position.”
The disappointing economic performance has a number of causes. Perhaps the most important, according to Segers, are the problems in the construction sector. “The apartment market has completely collapsed. It concerns millions of apartments that are empty.” Other projects, such as the construction of bridges and railway lines, have also come to a standstill. Due to the large size of this sector, this has a significant impact on the labor market.
Fight between US and China
Another reason is that the US is tough on China economically. First there was a trade war, started by Washington, in which the two superpowers imposed a series of import duties on each other. Subsequently, America has taken measures to frustrate China’s technological development. Allies are also going along with this, whether or not under pressure, such as the Netherlands with the restrictions on the export of ASML chip production machines to China.
“As a result, China makes much less profit. And in the long term it will probably lag behind in terms of technology. But the Chinese are smart. We have to wait and see what the actual consequences will be,” says Segers.
2023-08-16 03:44:44
#China #suspends #release #statistics #youth #unemployment #hits #record #high
