China deploys the support of employment, the plans of the stimulus given the American tensions
A employment fair in Beijing in 2022. The Urban unemployment rate of China among people aged 16 to 24, excluding students, was held at a high level of 16.5% in March 2025, according to data from the National Statistics Bureau.
Jade Gao | AFP | Getty images
Beijing – senior Chinese officials described plans on Monday to support jobs and help exporters, while referring to the possibility of more stimulus in light of the increase in trade tensions with the United States
In just a few weeks, the prices of tit-for-tat between the United States and China have more than 100%doubled, forcing Chinese factories to interrupt production and to tell some workers to stay at home. Exports were a rare light point in the Chinese economy, which faced the pressure of dull consumption and a real estate crisis.
“The stability of the labor market remains an essential concern for Chinese decision -makers, given its direct link with social stability and recovery of consumption,” said Goldman Sachs analysts on Sunday in a report. They estimate that around 16 million jobs in China are involved in the production of exported goods to the United States
The authorities recognized on Monday the impact of trade tensions on jobs in export companies. China has repeatedly stressed that consumption is its priority for the year. But Monday’s press conference focused on efforts to stabilize employment.
The briefing intervened after the Ministry of Human Resources announced on Friday subsidies to companies that hire recent graduates, but did not specify an amount. Managers who were expressed on Monday spoke widely of the plans aimed at promoting entrepreneurship, increasing vocational training and distributing wages to workers in areas with “urgent” needs.
China will provide financial support to exporters so that they “will have more confidence to take orders,” said Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, to Mandarin journalists, translated by CNBC.
He underlined the recent measures, as well as the National Development and Reform Commission Economic Planning Agency, to help exporters to sell products at the national level and to reduce operating costs such as rent.
Sheng spoke alongside the senior officials of the economic planner, the central bank and the Ministry of Human Resources.
In addition to existing employment pressures, a record of 12.22 million higher education graduates enter the Chinese labor market this year, up 430,000 compared to a year ago, according to official figures.
China’s urban unemployment rate among people aged 16 to 24, excluding students, was held at a high level of 16.5% in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This marked a modest drop of 16.9% the previous month. The overall unemployment rate for the working age population in cities went slightly at 5.2% in March, against a 5.4% summit in two years in February.
Banque Populaire de China tends to reduce rates when the labor market seems soft, said Goldman Sachs analysts, citing a historic precedent. They predict that at the end of September, China will reduce the policy rates of 20 base points, while adopting a drop of 50 basic points for the reserve needs ratio, or the amount of cash flow banks must have in hand.
No more support could come
On Friday, the comments of Chinese officials followed a high -level Politburo meeting which called for targeted measures to help companies, and said the central bank would reduce the rates if necessary.
China is convinced that it can achieve its growth objective in the year full of approximately 5% and will introduce an additional stimulus as the macroeconomic situation changes, said Zhao Chenxin, deputy chief of the economic planning agency, to journalists.
He stressed that policies aimed at stimulating consumption and establishing a technological development fund at the state level would be implemented at the end of June.
Beijing has increased economic support since the end of September, but the measures so far have not accumulated in large -scale revival that many investors hoped. The gross domestic product increased 5.4% better than expected in the first quarter compared to a year ago.
“We believe that political decision -makers are waiting for more clarity around the pricing impact before committing to a more radical stimulus,” Louise Loo, an Oxford Economics economist on Monday. The gross domestic product in the second quarter “is very likely to decelerate considerably, as exports vacillate and compensate more than the momentum behind the investments responsible for stimulation”.
