China's youth unemployment rate rises as college graduates seek jobs

China's youth unemployment rate climbed to 17.9 percent in July as fresh college graduates entered the job market, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The unemployment rate for urban workers aged 16 to 24, excluding students, rose 3 percentage points from June. The rate for those aged 25 to 29 edged up to 7.2 percent, while the rate for workers aged 30 to 59 fell slightly to 3.9 percent, the bureau said on Wednesday.

The bureau said that the overall surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in July, up 0.2 percentage points from June, reflecting seasonal pressure as graduates flood into the labor force. The average from January to July remained at 5.2 percent.

To absorb the influx, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Social Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued a notice to optimize community positions for college graduates.

The notice calls for strengthening recruitment of graduates in majors such as sociology, social work, psychology, law, labor and social security, and community management and service.

In principle, all newly created community positions should be open to college graduates, the notice said.

Local authorities that have the capacity are encouraged to develop additional positions suited to graduates, with the aim of strengthening community-level governance and refining grassroots management, the notice added.