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

China’s youth unemployment rate fell slightly in December for the fourth consecutive month, though competition for jobs remains intense as policymakers confront deflationary pressures and a labour market marked by a growing mismatch between skills and vacancies.The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24, excluding students, fell to 16.5 per cent last month from 16.9 per cent in November, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.That figure has eased since August after a record 12.2 million university students graduated over the summer, pushing the jobless rate to 18.9 per cent – the highest level since students were excluded from the data in December 2023. In June that year, youth unemployment had hit a headline-grabbing 21.3 per cent.Jobs for college graduates and migrant workers featured prominently on the agenda of the central economic work conference on December 10 and 11, when the Chinese leadership gathered to discuss the status of the economy.Hu Kexin, who studies French at a university in Beijing and minors in accounting, said finding a job was “definitely hard” despite securing six internships.“I have a heavy course load every semester, and I really have to rack my brain to rearrange my schedule so I can make time for internships,” she added.“I realised that spending another two or three years at university would be a waste of time.”