Record graduate influx lifts China’s youth jobless rate to 17.9% in July

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Record graduate influx lifts China’s youth jobless rate to 17.9% in July
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Sherry Wangin Beijing
Published: 2:49pm, 19 Aug 2026
Updated: 3:11pm, 19 Aug 2026

China’s youth jobless rate climbed to 17.9 per cent in July, as a record wave of university graduates enters an already crowded labour market, prompting Beijing to step up employment support

The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24, excluding students, rose 3 percentage points from 14.9 per cent in June – the last of three straight months of contraction – according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday

The rate last July was 17.8 per cent and it then climbed to 18.9 per cent the following month – the highest level since Beijing revised its methodology to exclude students in December 2023

The uptick in youth unemployment coincides with another record-breaking graduation season, with an estimated 12.7 million university graduates entering the job market this summer, up about 4 per cent from last year.

The influx comes as the broader job market struggles amid slowing economic growth, with many companies trimming headcount or freezing new hiring

Beijing has launched a range of measures to support youth employment in recent years, ranging from providing hiring subsidies to firms that absorb graduates to pressing state-owned enterprises to offer more positions

On Tuesday, the ministries of human ree’s Society Work Department issued a notice requiring local authorities to, in principle, open all new community-level jobs to university graduates. Localities were also encouraged to develop roles for graduates and to offer companies and social institutions incentives to boost their hiring

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Source: www.scmp.com