The Unemployment rate of China attained a value of 4.08 % in 2024
The indicator recorded a historical change (bps difference) of 8 bps between 2021 to 2024, and is expected to decline by...
GlobalData projects the figure to change by 1 bps between 2025 and 2029, reaching...
Unemployment
Unemployment is a term used to describe people who are actively looking for work but are unable to find one. The unemployment rate is derived by dividing the total number of unemployed persons by the total number of people in a certain region or workforce. It is one of the most important markers of a country's economic health.
Global Unemployment
As per the International Labour Organization, the average regional unemployment rate at the end of 2021 has been estimated at 9.6%, which represents an improvement from the 10.6% it reached in 2020, but a setback compared to the 8% that was recorded for 2019, which in this case is used as a reference to calculate the impact of two years of the pandemic.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in April 2022 published its February 2022 unemployment figures: the unemployment rate in the OECD areas dropped below the pre-pandemic rate. This is the lowest level since the start of this data series in 2001. The number of unemployed workers in the OECD area also continued to fall, reaching 34.9 million, 0.7 million below its pre-pandemic level.
Unemployment Rate of China
The unemployment rate in China in 2021 stood at 3.8%. Between 2018-2021, the unemployment rate in China was highest in 2020 at 4.0% and lowest in 2019 at 3.6%. The unemployment rate decreased by 4.3% on a year-on-year basis in 2021 and increased by 0.2% between 2018-2021.
As per GlobalData estimates, the unemployment rate in China remained at an average annual rate of 4% during 2010–20. It decreased to 3.8% in 2021, due to robust pick up in economic activities. However, resurgence of COVID-19 and shutdown of businesses in major provinces might add to unemployment. However, GlobalData forecasts the unemployment rate to slow down to 3.7% in 2022.
China has relatively low unemployment among youth
Although the level of unemployment is reasonably low, the economy still faces the challenge of providing meaningful employment to university graduates. This rising trend has made news headlines. Some of the key factors for this are lack of relevant skills required in the labor market. According to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate (as a percentage of the total labor force aged 15–24 years) increased from 10% in 2018 to 11% in 2020. The unemployment rate for those aged between 16–24 rose to 16.2% in July 2021 from 15.4% in June 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Furthermore, resurgence of COVID-19 might cause more unemployment among the youth in 2022. Lack of skills and education make youth more unemployed despite the increase in jobs by the government.
Factors that Cause Unemployment
Recession, government policies, geographical labor mobility, technological advancements, global economy, expanding population, and education, training, and skill development of workers are some of the primary elements that influence unemployment in a country.
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