China’s youth unemployment rate falls slightly in December as Beijing pledges more support

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Kandy Wong,Alice LiJanuary 22, 2026 at 08:09 AM

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China's youth unemployment rate (ages 16-24, excluding students) continued its decline in December, reaching 16.5%, a slight decrease from 16.9% in November. This marks the fourth consecutive month of improvement since peaking at 21.3% in June 2023. The decrease follows a record number of university graduates entering the job market over the summer. Despite the improvement, job competition remains fierce, and the Chinese leadership addressed employment for graduates and migrant workers at a central economic work conference in December. The government is pledging more support to address the mismatch between available skills and job vacancies amid deflationary pressures. Some students are finding the job market difficult to navigate, even with internship experience.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Chinese leadership 50% Beijing 60% Hu Kexin 60% National Bureau of Statistics 70% China 90%

Keywords

youth unemployment 100% china 90% job market 80% college graduates 70% skills mismatch 60% deflationary pressures 60% economic policy 50% internships 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Neutral

Score: -0.10

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

China

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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youth unemployment china job market college graduates skills mismatch deflationary pressures economic policy internships

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