Credit: China Visual

BEIJING, August 15 (TMTPost) – China will change the methodology of urban youth unemployment statistics from August and longer give numbers for age groups, said Fu Linghui, the chief stastistician of the National Bureau of Statistics, on Tuesday.    

Fu made the announcement in the press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

He said that the statistics change was in the wake of social-economic changes. In recent years,  the number of students on campus has swollen. In 2022, there were 96 million urban young people aged between 16 and 24, and 65 million of them were enrolled in high-schools or universities, Liu explained.

The primary job for students is to study, not to look for a job. Whether they should be covered by the statistics of youth unemployment deserves further discussions. Meanwhile, with overall progress in education, students spend more years in schools. Furthermore, the definition of youth also needs further clarification.