BEIJING – China’s youth unemployment rate rose slightly in February, official data showed on March 20, as policymakers in the world’s second-largest economy work to ease mounting fears of a downturn.

After youth joblessness soared to 21.3 per cent in June 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stopped releasing monthly figures, then resumed in December under revamped calculation criteria.

The latest unemployment figure for 16- to 24-year-olds – which now does not include students – edged up to 15.3 per cent in February, from 14.6 per cent in January, NBS data showed.

The youth unemployment rate in December 2023 was 14.9 per cent.

Unemployment is now one of several challenges facing China’s economy, which has struggled to recover since the cancellation in late 2022 of stringent Covid-19 control measures that had weighed heavily on activity.

Also dragging on confidence in recent months is a long-running property sector crisis, as several top developers struggle to manage skyrocketing debt, as well as weaker exports and slowing domestic consumption.