China: Mass unemployment amid COVID-19 becomes huge challenge for CCP

Sluggish domestic consumption and low export demand amid the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in China witnessing one of the worst economic shrinkages experienced by the country in recent memory. As per reports, one of the most devastating consequences of this economic shrinkage has been a loss of jobs.

70 Million Unemployed in China: Report

According to reports, even after several weeks of the lockdown having ended many Chinese have not been able to return to work and as per estimates 70 to 80 million Chinese have lost their jobs or been temporarily laid of due to the pandemic. While official figures indicated that unemployment has risen only 0.8 per cent from the 5.2 per cent it was in December but experts claims this figure does not tell the full truth.

An independent economist in Beijing has said that "The official survey does not take into account migrant workers, nor the situation in small and medium-sized enterprises and among the self-employed". Experts have also predicted that in the coming months, China’s export sector could loss 10 million more jobs due to a global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the renewed tensions between China and the United States and its allies.

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As per reports, 19.3 per cent of new graduates from China have remained jobless and 300 million migrants who left the Chinese countryside in order to find a job in the cities have now become the most vulnerable segment of the population. Most of the jobs sectors in China that require low-skilled labour like Retail shops, wholesalers, restaurants, and hotels have all closed down and aid off their staff.

According to reports, statistics published by Zhongtai Securities, a brokerage firm based in Shandong province has estimated that the true percentage of unemployment is 20.5 per cent with 70 million people in China being unemployed. For the first time in decades, the Chinese Communist Party has admitted that its economy is shrinking and it has set a goal of stabilising urban unemployment at 6 per cent.

(With inputs from ANI)

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