The global economic slowdown could imperil China's goal to eradicate rural poverty by the end of 2020, a centerpiece initiative of Chinese leader Xi Jinping when he took power in 2012. Why is the stock market soaring? "Beijing's biggest concern is not GDP growth, but employment," he said.

A vast majority of migrant laborers, whose jobs are seasonal, do not qualify.

Beijing expects about 8.7 million people will graduate from colleges and universities this year, creating even more competition for work. "Say a factory used to hire 1,000 temporary workers; now, without new orders, these business owners can't afford to hire this many people," Yan Xiyun, a labor intermediary, told NPR. Because of the coronavirus, no one is buying anything in China and the factory can't import goods," said Zhao, who didn't give his full name because he felt ashamed talking openly about his family's unemployment. Freshly shorn stalks of wheat outside Zhumadian, Henan province. But outside Zhumadian, among its dusty, golden wheat fields, villages are also feeling economic pain. "Why else would you see so many young men around in the village at this time of the year?" China’s unemployment rate only measures the rate of unemployment of those with an urban registration. "The survey doesn't really take into account those people who travel frequently between the country and the urban areas like migrant workers," explains Tianlei Huang, a research analyst at think tank Peterson Institute for International Economics, who looks at China's unemployment surveys. China's official statistics show 50 million fewer migrants returned to cities this February than during the same time last year, likely because they had no work, and instead farmed the land. China: Unemployment rate: For that indicator, we provide data for China from 1991 to 2019. Wang said the current environment contrasts starkly to when he graduated from college in 2015.

Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. We Insist: A Timeline Of Protest Music In 2020, Peterson Institute for International Economics. Meanwhile, the surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.8 percent last month, down 0.1 percentage points from May, according to the NBS. Chat with us in Facebook Messenger.

"Although the coronavirus has had a severe impact [on jobs], there are no massive layoffs in the country," Mao Shengyong said at a press conference. But many of the newly unemployed have instead returned to their rural villages. Small businesses suffer despite lifting lockdown in Wuhan, Another 870,000 Americans filed first-time jobless claims, Mom juggling work and remote learning: I can't maintain this, The vaccine race: Firms face unprecedented challenges, Imperfect Foods' business is booming during the pandemic, US economy added 1.4 million jobs in August, Pandemic exposes harsh reality for small business owners.

The discrepancy between the two figures likely comes from China's large numbers of migrant workers. The unemployment rate as measured by the official survey of cities was 5.6%, 0.1 percentage points lower than July, the bureau said. Amazon debuted a long list of products today. Freshly shorn stalks of wheat outside Zhumadian, Henan province. "In late April, only about half of those rural workers who were working last year were [still] working," said Scott Rozelle, a Stanford economist who led the team of researchers.