China to stop releasing youth jobless figures
Mainland officials on Tuesday said they will no longer release youth jobless numbers starting this month, after authorities saw a record-high figure of 21.3 percent in June.   The announcement comes as the nation’s overall unemployment rate for July rose to 5.3 percent, up slightly from a month ago, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said the bureau will stop publishing age group-specific unemployment data, citing the need to "further improve and optimise labour force survey statistics". Fu said authorities will study whether students looking for jobs before graduation should be included in those figures.  He added: "It is important to note that there is still pressure on total employment volume and structural issues still exist. So we must continue to work hard to expand employment and improve its quality." "In the next stage, all regions and departments will implement various policies and measures to stabilise employment, expand employment capacity, strengthen vocational skills training, and encourage grassroots employment."