As widespread Covid lockdowns put the brakes on the economy, one of China’s top leaders presented a bleak image of the job environment in the world’s most populous nation.
The job situation in China, according to Premier Li Keqiang, China’s ruling Communist Party’s No. 2 in the hierarchy, is “complicated and terrible.”
He directed all levels of government to emphasize steps to promote jobs and maintain stability in a statement issued on Saturday. Small firms will be helped to survive, the internet economy will be supported, incentives will be provided to encourage people to start their businesses, and laid-off workers will receive unemployment compensation.
“Stabilizing employment is vital for people’s livelihoods and the economy to run within an acceptable range,” Li said.
His comments come as the country’s unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in over two years, according to government data.
To keep the economy humming, China has to create millions of new jobs each year. In 2022, the government wants to create at least 11 million employment in towns and cities. However, Li stated in March that he thinks the economy would generate more than 13 million jobs this year, noting the need to absorb college graduates and migrant workers from rural areas.
In recent weeks, Li, who is in charge of China’s economic management, has made repeated appeals to stabilize employment, and his remarks this weekend are a clear reminder of the cost of China’s Covid limitations.
China is seeing its worst outbreak in more than two years as the highly transmissible Omicron form spreads swiftly. According to CNN’s latest calculations, at least 31 Chinese cities are currently under complete or partial lockdown, affecting up to 214 million people across the country.
President Ji Xinping is doubling down on his strict zero-Covid policy more than two years into the outbreak, even as the rest of the globe tries to learn to live with the virus. Mandatory mass testing and severe lockdowns are part of the plan.
On Thursday, Xi stated that anyone who questions China’s policies will be punished.
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According to recent research by Société Générale analysts, the lockdowns have placed the world’s second-largest economy “to breaking point.”
As a result of Covid lockdowns, China’s massive services sector fell at the second-fastest rate on record in April. Its manufacturing sector shrank dramatically as well.
According to the most current government figures, unemployment reached a 21-month high in March, and that was before China tightened restrictions in Beijing and extended the lockdown in Shanghai’s financial center. In March, the unemployment rate in 31 major cities reached a new high.
In addition, the country’s enormous tech sector is seeing significant job losses.
The once-freewheeling industry was formerly China’s main source of well-paid jobs, but large corporations are now shrinking on a scale never seen before as the government continues to crack down on private enterprise. The country’s top internet regulator declared last month that the sector was not in any kind of crisis, although the matter is still being discussed heavily on Chinese social media.
Other areas, ranging from real estate to education, have also witnessed sharp employment losses in recent months.
Beijing is aware of the economic difficulties and is particularly anxious about the possibility of mass unemployment, which would undermine the Communist Party’s legitimacy. China’s vice premier, Hu Chunhua, called for “all-out efforts” to stabilize employment earlier this month.
The Communist Party’s Politburo committed on April 28 to implement “important measures” to assist the internet economy, implying that the year-long crackdown on the tech sector may be eased.
