Coronavirus: China’s jobless rate could reach 2020 levels unless Beijing ‘learns’ early pandemic lessons, experts say
- Academics at Peking University warned this week that China’s unemployment situation could get as bad as 2020 under current virus control measures
- They estimated the number of unemployed Chinese in mid-2020 could have been as many as 92.66 million, or up to 12 per cent of the working population
As China’s zero-Covid policy continues to disrupt business, the country could see unemployment reach levels similar to 2020, when up to 12 per cent of the working population was out of a job, academics say.
China has been battling its worst Covid-19 outbreak in more than two years and authorities have responded with the type of tough containment measures that brought success early in the pandemic.
Beijing ordered clubs and bars in the central business district of Chaoyang to shut down on Thursday – just three days after reopening – while a local community was put under lockdown after a single resident was infected.
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Shanghai residents confront officials after swift return of lockdown
Academics at Peking University warned this week that unemployment could surge unless policymakers “learn from what happened in 2020” during the first wave.
