China’s National Bureau of Statistics said this week that it would no longer release age-group-specific unemployment data, citing the need to ‘further improve and optimise labour force survey statistics’, reports Channel News Asia. “Starting from this August, the release of urban unemployment rates for youth and other age groups across the country will be suspended," bureau spokesman Fu Linghui said. Joblessness among 16- to 24-year-olds hit a record 21.3% in June. Overall unemployment rose to 5.3% in July compared with 5.2% in June, the NBS said.

The announcement that youth unemployment data would be suspended came as Beijing released a series of weak economic indicators for July. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, grew 2.5% year-on-year in July, the NBS said, down from 3.1% in June and falling short of analyst expectations. Industrial production grew 3.7% in July from a year ago, down from 4.4% in June.

The recent data suggests China may struggle to achieve a 5% growth target set for the year. The economy grew just 0.8% between the first and second quarters of 2023, according to official figures.