China’s revised youth unemployment rate rose to the highest level since the data set was reintroduced last year, as career prospects for young people dimmed amid the ongoing economic downturn.

The jobless rates for the 16-24 age group, excluding students, rose to 18.8 per cent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, up from 17.1 per cent in July.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for the 25-29 age group, excluding college students, also rose to 6.9 per cent in August from 6.5 per cent a month earlier.

Beijing introduced the revised method for December having suspended the release of youth unemployment data from July last year.
Under the previous approach, the jobless rate for the 16-24 age group, including students, had peaked at 21.3 per cent in June last year.