China to Halt Youth Jobs Data, Stoking Transparency Concerns

• China will pause publishing data on its soaring youth unemployment rate to iron out complexities in the numbers, fanning investor fears about data transparency in the world’s second-largest economy.
• The jobless rate for people aged between 16 and 24 won’t be released from August until surveying methods have been improved, the National Bureau of Statistics said at a Tuesday briefing. That means July’s data will not be released.
• The decision to withhold a high-profile data point is the latest example of diminishing access to information in China, as President Xi Jinping’s government more closely guards economic data it deems sensitive.

External Link : https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-15/china-pauses-releasing-youth-jobless-rate-citing-complex-data