China Urban Wages Grew Just 2.2% So Far This Year on Covid Curbs
- Household spending growth was even weaker than wage gains
- Weak labor market due to Covid control policies, housing slump
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Wages in Chinese cities rose just 2.2% in inflation-adjusted terms in the first nine months of this year, highlighting the impact on the labor market of Beijing’s strict Covid policies and the housing slump.
That was less than half 5% or above pace that urban workers were used to before the pandemic, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data released by China’s statistics bureau. Underlining weaker demand for workers, unemployment in the 31 largest Chinese cities, which some economists consider the best measure of the country’s labor market, rose to 5.8% in September from 5.4% in August.