Weekend Long Read: To Understand China’s Labor Market, Look Beyond the Headline Unemployment Rate

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5% in September — a significant improvement from last year’s peak of 6.1% in April and the 5.7% recorded late last year. The job market appears to have rebounded, surpassing even the levels in late 2019 and most of that year.

By this gauge alone, it would seem that China’s employment has fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.