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Ancora pain recovery12/28/2023 ![]() Job seekers crowd to the annual job fair on Apin Zhengzhou, Henan Province of China. The fact that China acknowledged record unemployment during the pandemic suggests the country knows it has a problem on its hands. While the metric has often been criticized as too stable - official data has barely budged beyond 4% and 5% in recent years - messaging from Beijing before the coronavirus hit showed how concerned officials were that the existing economic slowdown would take a toll on jobs. The country’s unemployment rate is of particular concern for state authorities. “China is in for a drawn-out recovery,” Evans-Pritchard added. That means 3.6 million more people were out of work in March compared to the end of last year, according to a CNN Business calculation using government data. The unemployment rate, which tracks jobless numbers in urban areas only, jumped to 5.9% in March - better than February’s record high of 6.2%, but still worse than the 5.2% China recorded in December. He added, though, that China may still not be fully acknowledging the extent of the downturn.Ĭhina’s labor market continues to show signs of strain. “The March data add to broader signs that China’s economy is past the worst,” wrote Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist for Capital Economics, in a research note. ![]() Industrial output and exports, for example, remained weak as the rest of the world contends with disruption caused by the virus. And economic data for March, while an improvement over the first two months of the year, suggest the recovery is tentative. There are still restrictions in place for many cities, even those that have come off lockdown. Still, China is far from returning to normal. And a lockdown on Wuhan - ground zero of the pandemic - was lifted earlier this month. While Beijing has faced criticism for its alleged lack of transparency early on in the pandemic, the country has been reporting a shrinking number of locally transmitted infections. The country’s quarterly economic report is in some ways a barometer for the United States and Europe, which began to feel the full impact of the pandemic as the situation in China was starting to improve. Retail spending dropped 19% last quarter, while exports plunged more than 13%. The economy shrunk 1.6% that year.Ĭhina’s three major engines for growth - consumer spending, exports and fixed asset investment - all sputtered as large swaths of the country were placed on lockdown in late January and early February to contain the spread of the virus. It’s also the first time China has reported an economic contraction since 1976, when Communist Party leader Mao Zedong’s death ended a decade of social and economic tumult. The plunge is the worst for a single quarter that China has recorded since it started publishing those figures in 1992. While a contraction was expected, it’s still a historic moment for China. Fu Tian/China News Service/Getty ImagesĬhina's economy may not grow at all in 2020. BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 20: Workers wearing masks at the construction site of Beijing Subway Line 19 as the epidemic disease is under control on Main Beijing, China.
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