CNA

BEIJING: China's unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market as the economy has been badly hit ...

In the first seven months of 2022, 7.83 million new urban jobs were created, reaching 71.2 per cent of its annual target. Payments by China's unemployment insurance fund rose 256.6 per cent in June from a year earlier to 37.19 billion yuan (US$5.42 billion), according to Reuters' calculations based on data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The youth unemployment rate rose to a record high of 19.9 per cent in July, even as the nationwide survey-based urban jobless rate eased to 5.4 per cent in July. The sharp rise in the payouts resulted in a deficit of 22.74 billion yuan in the fund in June, widening from a 4.91 billion yuan deficit in May and in contrast to monthly surpluses from January to April. Chinese policymakers have played down the need to hit the annual economic growth target of "around 5.5 per cent" in 2022, as headwinds persist. BEIJING: China's unemployment insurance payouts hit a record high in June, adding to signs of a struggling labour market as the economy has been badly hit by COVID-19 outbreaks and a property crisis.