China stops releasing figures to hide soaring unemployment

Halting the publication of youth unemployment data avoids an embarrassing monthly reminder that hurts the market, analysts say

Beijing: China’s economy is on course for a severe slowdown, and the country’s sky-high rates of youth unemployment have increased. According to the Washington Post, Beijing has found a solution and that is to stop disclosing the figures.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Tuesday that it would discontinue releasing data on unemployment by age group this month after China’s youth unemployment rate, which includes those aged 16 to 24, reached a record high of 21.3 per cent in June. Some analysts think the actual number is significantly greater.

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The announcement was made in the midst of a flurry of disappointing data released on Tuesday, adding to the mounting evidence that China’s economy is struggling to pick up steam three years after ending its isolation under the strict “zero covid” policies designed to slow the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Washington Post.

Halting the publication of youth unemployment data avoids an embarrassing monthly reminder that hurts the market, analysts say.

Notably, the National Bureau of Statistics stopped publishing its index of consumer confidence a few months ago, after updating it monthly for more than three decades, Washington Post reported.

Official statistics released last week showed consumer prices had fallen by 0.3 per cent over the last year after being stagnant for months, raising the spectre of deflation.

In the meantime, China‘s property market, which contributes up to 30 per cent of the country’s GDP, is in danger of collapsing. For the first time, Country Garden, the biggest private real estate developer in the nation, has requested to postpone payment on a private onshore bond.

Just before Tuesday’s data was released, the central bank in Beijing, for the second time in the span of three months, cut key rates to bolster economic activity, Washington Post reported.

The retail sales growth remained stubbornly low in July, just 2.5 per cent, failing to meet the 4.5 per cent forecast by analysts and even lower than the 3.1 per cent rise in June, according to the official data.

Local governments, historically a major engine of investment in China, bore much of the cost that came with enforcing Beijings strict zero-covid measures and are now struggling under a massive debt burden that, by some estimates, tops USD 23 trillion.

The move by Country Garden to extend its bond repayment has raised fresh concerns this week that the slow-moving crisis in the property sector could spill into other parts of the economy, Washington Post reported.

The persistent economic challenges also threaten to undermine Chinese leader Xi Jinpings push for ecommon prosperity, a campaign to raise living standards and tackle income inequality.

Despite the increasingly grim numbers, the government has held back from undertaking a large-scale economic recovery plan or stimulus effort.