How Bad Is China’s Youth Unemployment, Really?

With more than one in five young people unable to find jobs, there is hope that China’s stubbornly high youth unemployment rate can be a powerful catalyst for the government to act. So far, Beijing has been offering big words but little money, even as the economy witnesses a sharp, double-dip downturn only seven months after the reopening from Covid Zero.

After all, social stability seems to be what the Communist Party cares about the most. In 2008, during the depth of the Global Financial Crisis, China implemented a 4 trillion yuan ($558 billion) stimulus plan to create work for an estimated 20 million migrant workers who had been laid off. Job losses and wage disputes had led to a sharp increase in mass protests, particularly along the eastern manufacturing belt.