Did China’s Youth Jobless Rate Really Hit 46.5%?

As if the record-breaking 21.3% official surveyed urban youth unemployment rate in June wasn’t disturbing enough, a scholar digging into the data provided a more shocking stat — fully 46.5% of China’s 16- to 24-year-olds were neither employed nor in school in March.

Has China’s urban unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 climbed to nearly 50%? The short answer is no — at least not in the way most of the world recognizes this gauge.