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China’s job market plagued by zero-Covid ‘uncertainty’, with swift rebound unlikely
- China’s headline jobless rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 6.1 per cent in April, the highest level since March 2020, official statistics show
- Strict coronavirus controls, including lockdowns, have disrupted production and undermined the willingness of small and medium-sized firms to hire
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China is facing grimmer unemployment prospects than at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, experts say, as lockdowns and virus control measures stoke market uncertainty and dampen the economic growth outlook.
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The headline jobless rate – the surveyed urban unemployment rate – rose by 0.3 percentage points to 6.1 per cent in April, the highest level since March 2020, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.
It was the second highest reading since 2018, when China first started publishing the data monthly, and above the government’s target to keep unemployment under 5.5 per cent this year.
For China’s 31 largest cities, the unemployment rate jumped to 6.7 per cent in April from 6.0 per cent in March, higher than the 2020 peak of 5.9 per cent.
Strict coronavirus controls, including lockdowns, have disrupted production and dealt a heavy blow to private firms and the service sector, both major sources of job creation.
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