Headline: Youth Unemployment in China Sees a Decline in September

In September, China's youth unemployment rate decreased after reaching a seasonal peak during the summer, yet it remained high, indicating ongoing challenges in the country's job market. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the unemployment rate for those aged 16-24, excluding students, fell to 17.6% last month. This is a decline from the August peak of 18.8%, when millions of university graduates entered the job market.

These figures align with last week's report showing that the overall unemployment rate was 5.1% in September, down from 5.3% in August. The labor data follows China reporting a 4.6% economic growth for the July-September period compared to a year earlier. Although slightly better than expected, this represented the slowest pace in six quarters.

The National Bureau of Statistics had suspended the publication of the youth unemployment rate after it reached a record high of 21.3% in June of last year. The bureau resumed publishing the data in January of this year but revised the methodology to exclude students enrolled in schools. Economists argue that this change makes the measure less reliable.