Disappointing data
Among 25- to 29-year-olds, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent for July, up from the previous month’s 6.4 percent.
For the workforce as a whole, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent.
However, the NBS figures paint an incomplete picture of China’s overall employment situation, as they take only urban areas into account.
The new unemployment figures come on the heels of other disappointing economic data from Beijing, including figures showing dampened industrial production, despite recent government measures aimed at boosting growth.
Industrial production growth weakened in July, with the month’s 5.1 percent expansion down from June’s 5.3 percent and falling short of analyst predictions.
China’s major cities also recorded another decline in real estate prices last month, a sign of sluggish demand.
Demand for bank loans also contracted for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to official figures published earlier this week.
International challenges are also mounting, with the European Union and the United States increasingly imposing trade barriers to protect their markets from low-cost Chinese products and perceived unfair competition. –
