{"id":621212,"date":"2026-04-21T11:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621212\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:01:13","slug":"chinas-youth-unemployment-crunch-deepens-as-record-graduation-season-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621212\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s youth unemployment crunch deepens as record graduation season looms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Despite China\u2019s <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/economic-indicators\/article\/3350237\/china-records-5-gdp-growth-first-quarter-track-annual-target?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stronger-than-expected<\/a> first-quarter economic growth, young jobseekers found little respite as March brought a rise in youth unemployment across urban areas, snapping six straight months of decline.The jobless rate for the 16-to-24 age group, excluding students, edged up to 16.9 per cent in March from <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3346838\/chinas-youth-unemployment-falls-sixth-consecutive-month-february?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">16.1 per cent in February<\/a>, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The job market, weighed down by deflationary pressures and external uncertainties, has proved particularly challenging for young people with limited professional experience.<\/p>\n<p>Many have opted for postgraduate study to improve their prospects or defer entering the workforce, while others are turning to the country\u2019s civil sector to secure jobs known as <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/politics\/article\/3309185\/why-chinas-iron-rice-bowl-looks-more-appealing-children-senior-officials?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u201ciron rice bowls\u201d<\/a> for their comparatively high level of security.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But with these exam cycles now concluding, those who have failed to qualify are returning to a strained recruitment market.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Among them is Bai Xi, a finance and management graduate from Hebei province near Beijing, who recently began her job search after spending months working part-time while sitting local-level civil service exams following her graduation last year.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But time and again, she fell just short of the required score.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI don\u2019t have the strength any more to go all out and devote myself entirely to preparing for civil service exams,\u201d Bai said. \u201cTaking them again would just be a waste of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite China\u2019s stronger-than-expected first-quarter economic growth, young jobseekers found little respite as March brought a rise in youth&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1724,64,63,99,512,164,10340,1625,44,1721,28765,588,105,2489,1720],"class_list":{"0":"post-621212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-china","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-hong-kong","15":"tag-lifestyle","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-opinion","18":"tag-south-china-morning-post","19":"tag-sport","20":"tag-technology","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}