China: youth unemployment rose from 9.7% to 15.8% and is now above the world average
These are 15–24-year-olds who work or look for work, 2018 and 2025. Worldwide youth unemployment fell from 15.9% to 13.4% over the same years; for all ages in China it barely moved: 4.3% and 4.6%.
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Unemployment at all ages in China barely moved, while among the young it rose by half — the opposite of the world, where it fell. The idea that study guarantees work meets a number here: it is the entry that got hard.
Lines: unemployed as a share of 15–24-year-olds who work or look for work, %: China and the world.
- China: unemployment aged 15–24 %
2018: 9.7; 2025: 15.8
- World: unemployment aged 15–24 %
2018: 15.9; 2025: 13.4
- China: unemployment, all ages %
2018: 4.3; 2025: 4.6
ILO modelled estimates via the World Bank (SL.UEM.1524.ZS, SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS). China has been at or above the world since 2022.
This is the ILO model, not the national survey: China's statistics bureau publishes urban unemployment at 16–24 excluding students, which is higher; it is not in the base and the figures are not mixed. Students not looking for work are outside the denominator. The data name no cause — more graduates, housing, the pandemic.
A question for this picture
And in the US? Young graduates have been unemployed more often than workers overall for more than five years.