China’s urban youth unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, rose to 18.9% in August 2025, up from 17.8% in July and slightly above 18.8% a year earlier. It marked the highest level since December 2023, when Beijing revised its methodology to exclude individuals still in school. The increase reflects mounting economic headwinds, including a slowdown in growth, persistent weakness in real estate and manufacturing, and a mismatch between graduates’ skills and labor market demand. China’s statistics bureau suspended the release of youth unemployment figures in June 2023, after the rate hit a record 21.3%, before resuming with the updated methodology later that year. Meanwhile, the overall urban unemployment rate across all age groups inched up to 5.3% in August from 5.2% in July.