China’s Youth Unemployment Hits Record Under New Methodology

2025-09-17 08:51 By Joana Ferreira 1 min. read

China’s urban youth unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, rose to 18.9% in August 2025, up from 17.8% in July and slightly above 18.8% a year earlier.

It marked the highest level since December 2023, when Beijing revised its methodology to exclude individuals still in school.

The increase reflects mounting economic headwinds, including a slowdown in growth, persistent weakness in real estate and manufacturing, and a mismatch between graduates’ skills and labor market demand.

China’s statistics bureau suspended the release of youth unemployment figures in June 2023, after the rate hit a record 21.3%, before resuming with the updated methodology later that year.

Meanwhile, the overall urban unemployment rate across all age groups inched up to 5.3% in August from 5.2% in July.



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