China has decided to halt the release of youth unemployment figures, a month after data showed they reached a record high.
“The economy and society are constantly developing and changing. Statistical work needs continuous improvement”, Fu Linghui, a National Bureau of Statistics spokesman, told a news conference in Beijing, according to the BBC.
The unemployment rate in urban areas reached a record 21.3% for 16-to-24-year-olds in June.
For the country as a whole, the unemployment rate in July was 5.3%, up by a tenth, data that was released alongside figures showing a slowdown in retail sales and industrial production growth.
China made a surprise interest-rate cut of 15 basis points in its one-year medium-term lending facility.