Chart of the Day: China’s Youth Unemployment Breaks Record as Graduate Influx Looms

China’s youth unemployment rate hit a new record high in May as economic recovery lost steam, further pressuring policymakers trying to help create jobs for the millions of college graduates entering the labor market this summer.

The surveyed jobless rate among Chinese urbanites aged 16 to 24 reached 20.8% last month, up from what was already a record 20.4% in April, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Thursday. May’s youth rate was also four times the national surveyed jobless rate among urban workers, which stayed flat at 5.2%.